After about three decades of development, the polyol process is now widely recognized and practised as a unique soft chemical method for the preparation of a large variety of nanoparticles which can be used in important technological fields. It offers many advantages: low cost, ease of use and, very importantly, already proven scalability for industrial applications. Among the different classes of inorganic nanoparticles which can be prepared in liquid polyols, metals were the first reported. This review aims to give a comprehensive account of the strategies used to prepare monometallic nanoparticles and multimetallic materials with tailored size and shape. As regards monometallic materials, while the preparation of noble as well as ferromagnetic metals is now clearly established, the scope of the polyol process has been extended to the preparation of more electropositive metals, such as post-transition metals and semi-metals. The potential of this method is also clearly displayed for the preparation of alloys, intermetallics and core-shell nanostructures with a very large diversity of compositions and architectures.

Homogeneously dispersed organic-inorganic hybrid nanocomposites can be obtained by increasing the interfacial interactions between both components via the formation of hydrogen bonds or covalent bonds, by mixing various polymers or via the adequate choice of the inorganic precursors. The mechanical response of these advanced functional materials is an issue of paramount importance when industrial applications are targeted. Large progress in the understanding of the mechanical properties of O-I hybrids has been gained by testing these materials under different conditions (static and dynamic, low and large deformations up to fracture) and using specific techniques developed for the mechanical characterization of conventional materials such as polymers, glasses or ceramics. However, the mechanical properties of hybrid O-I materials are dependent on their micro-and nanostructures and on the nature and extent of the O-I interfaces. Consequently, predictable mechanical properties for hybrids still represent a major challenge for hybrid materials science. Industrial attraction for hybrid materials has been emphasized by the development of new functional coatings. An important issue is the interface between the film and the substrate since strong adhesion can be tailored and ensures that delamination of the film will be limited.

Iron oxide and gold-based magneto-plasmonic nanostructures exhibit remarkable optical and superparamagnetic properties originating from their two different components. As a consequence, they have improved and broadened the application potential of nanomaterials in medicine. They can be used as multifunctional nanoprobes for magneto-plasmonic heating as well as for magnetic and optical imaging. They can also be used for magnetically assisted optical biosensing, to detect extreme traces of targeted bioanalytes. This review introduces the previous work on magneto-plasmonic hetero-nanostructures including: (i) their synthesis from simple “one-step” to complex “multi-step” routes, including seed-mediated and non-seed-mediated methods; and (ii) the characterization of their multifunctional features, with a special emphasis on the relationships between their synthesis conditions, their structures and their properties. It also focuses on the most important progress made with regard to their use in nanomedicine, keeping in mind the same aim, the correlation between their morphology—namely spherical and non-spherical, core-satellite and core-shell, and the desired applications.

No abstract

No abstract

Poly(glycidyl methacrylate), PGMA, was prepared via ATRP in bulk solution, and its epoxy groups were further acid-hydrolyzed in order to obtain a polymer with glycerol moieties (noted POH). The POH chain end C-Br bonds were subjected to a nucleophilic attack by NaN(3), resulting in azide-terminated POH (POH-N(3)). The CNTs were modified by in-situ-generated alkynylated diazonium cations from the para-alkynylated aniline of the formulas H(2)N-C(6)H(4)-C≡C-H, yielding CNT-C(6)H(4)-C≡C-H nanotubes. The azide-functionalized polymer POH-N(3) was clicked to the alkynyl-modified CNTs giving CNT@POH hybrids, which were further subjected to an oxidation resulting in carboxylated polymer-modified CNTs (noted CNT@PCOOH). The as-designed hairy CNTs served as efficient platforms for the in-situ synthesis and massive loading of 3 nm sized palladium nanoparticles (NPs). The CNT@PCOOH@Pd heterostructures prepared so far exhibited an efficient catalytic effect in the C-C Suzuki coupling reaction and were regenerated up to four times without any significant loss of catalytic activity.

No abstract

No abstract