Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on August 18, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: July 8, 1999 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1999-0727.pr001
Preface
In recent years, there has been growing interest in materials chemistry, a field that focuses on the chemical aspects of material science. Chemists' interest in materials science has evolved with the realization that they are uniquely capable of finding improved syntheses of known materials and of synthesizing new ones, and that they can offer fundamental insight into materials properties. Chemists from all the broadly defined areas of chemistry, organic, inorganic, physical, and biological, have taken an interest in materials problems, and whole new subfields of study are emerging. For example, recent advances have led to distinct research areas emphasizing, for example, biomaterials, organic magnets, and organic lightemitting materials. The subject of this book is inorganic materials chemistry, which is a subfield with roots in classical solid-state inorganic chemistry. Many of the key materials used, for example, in computer chips, efficient automobile engines, solar panels, fuel cells, batteries, magnetic resonance imaging, and many other modern devices, can be classified as inorganic materials. Despite the advances and the use of inorganic materials in real-world applications, however, a precise level of synthetic control in their preparations and a fundamental understanding of their physical properties are still lacking. The goal of this book is to document the latest advances in several important areas of inorganic materials chemistry, and through this process help define a field that is undergoing explosive growth. The chapters in this book are based on a symposium entitled "New Directions in Materials Synthesis" that was held under the auspices of the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry on September 7-11, 1997, at the 207th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Las Vegas, Nevada. The designed focus of the symposium was on studies involving materials synthesis rather than on measurement of properties. Such an emphasis was taken because it is most closely aligned with inorganic chemistry itself and, more importantly, the rate-limiting step in materials applications is often the synthesis of pure materials in a desired form (e.g., uniformly sized powders, conformal thin films, crystalline solids). The symposium served the valuable purpose of giving chemists with very different backgrounds, perspectives, and interests a forum to present their latest work and to learn about, discuss, and critique the work presented by others. The Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry was the ideal venue for the symposium because of its tradition of encouraging and facilitating the dissemination of interdisciplinary research results, especially those with real-
ix Winter and Hoffman; Inorganic Materials Synthesis ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1999.
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on August 18, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: July 8, 1999 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1999-0727.pr001
world applications. A large contingent of young researchers, many of whom are only a few years into their independent research careers, were chosen to partici pate in the symposium and the writing of this book. By this approach, their enthusiasm and new perspectives were tapped, and their contributions can serve as a preview of emerging research. The chapters are broken into two broad themes. The first emphasizes the application of solid-state inorganic chemistry to materials problems. Subjects covered include fundamental synthetic studies directed toward the identification of new inorganic phases with useful properties, the development of new porous inorganic phases that are designed to incorporate specific molecules and ions in a selective fashion, and the design of compounds with predictable magnetic properties. The chapters encompass applications in electronic materials, catalysis, sensors, ion exchange, the production and separation of enantiomerically enriched or pure organic compounds, the extraction of heavy-metal ions from aqueous waste streams, and molecular magnetic materials. The second broad theme deals with the synthesis of thin films, which is further broken down into two subtopics. The first involves the use of metal-organic and organometallic compounds as precursors to inorganic thin films. Common threads in most of these chapters are the technique of chemical vapor deposition ( C V D ) and microelectronics applications. Specific topics covered include advanced bar rier materials, copper thin films, and silicon-germanium-carbon alloys. Chapters describing fundamental studies that are directed toward the fabrication of metalboride thin films by C V D techniques and the sol-gel synthesis of thin films relevant to the automotive industry are also included. The second subtopic focuses on the preparation of organic thin films by self-assembly of organic compounds on substrate surfaces. Topics include surface passivation, the creation of ordered structures on surfaces, and the preparation of surfaces containing desired func tional groups. The variety of subjects covered in this book reflects the diversity of perspec tives brought to bear by chemists on materials chemistry problems. Practicing materials chemists and students of materials chemistry will use this book as a reference and gateway to the primary literature. Materials scientists and engineers, physicists, and other scientists from nonchemical disciplines will find it to be an excellent introduction to inorganic materials chemistry. Finally, chemical and materials educators who would like to incorporate the most recent research discoveries and directions in their classes should be able to use this book as a source of up-to-date information on inorganic materials chemistry. CHARLES H. WINTER
DAVID M . HOFFMAN
Department of Chemistry Wayne State University Detroit, M I 48202
Department of Chemistry University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-5641
x Winter and Hoffman; Inorganic Materials Synthesis ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1999.
