Preface
The important progress in materials chemistry offers breakthroughs in the design of
devices for a wide range of applications. One of the successful keys in the development of novel systems is the result of the synergy between relevant compounds
confined or attached to nanostructured frameworks leading to highly fascinating
properties.
In the past century, photochemical reactions or photophysical properties have
been extensively studied in homogenous media (gas and liquid phases and solid
crystals). However, a different photoresponse can be expected in
microheterogeneous systems as a consequence of the limitation of the constrained
media imposition and/or specific interactions.
There are many nanostructures of inorganic and/or organic nature to accommodate photofunctional moieties of interest. Generally, (ordered)-nanospaces offer a
precise field for photochemical and photophysical processes, able to enhance or
provide novel photoinduced phenomena different from those found in solution.
Among them, silica-based porous zeolites and layered mineral clays, metal-oxide
nanoparticles, carbon-based cyclodextrins, and cucurbiturils, or even those with an
organo-inorganic composition such as MOFs frameworks, are the most widely used.
Their unique chemical, structural, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties play
an important role in the performance, triggered by light as an external stimulus, of
the resultant composites. Many compounds, mainly dyes but also ligands, ions,
complexes, biomolecules, and metal clusters can surpass their photoactivity under
hybridization with different nanostructured materials.
The photoactive function can be intrinsically part of the framework or being a
guest molecule. Its incorporation can be performed in many different ways, being
either covalently or coordinated attached, or physically embedded in the nanocages
of the hosts via a diffusion process loading (from liquid or gas phase), a crystallization inclusion method, or a ship-in-a-bottle synthesis. The followed methodology
also influences the final properties of the hybrid material.
v
The important progress in materials chemistry offers breakthroughs in the design of
devices for a wide range of applications. One of the successful keys in the development of novel systems is the result of the synergy between relevant compounds
confined or attached to nanostructured frameworks leading to highly fascinating
properties.
In the past century, photochemical reactions or photophysical properties have
been extensively studied in homogenous media (gas and liquid phases and solid
crystals). However, a different photoresponse can be expected in
microheterogeneous systems as a consequence of the limitation of the constrained
media imposition and/or specific interactions.
There are many nanostructures of inorganic and/or organic nature to accommodate photofunctional moieties of interest. Generally, (ordered)-nanospaces offer a
precise field for photochemical and photophysical processes, able to enhance or
provide novel photoinduced phenomena different from those found in solution.
Among them, silica-based porous zeolites and layered mineral clays, metal-oxide
nanoparticles, carbon-based cyclodextrins, and cucurbiturils, or even those with an
organo-inorganic composition such as MOFs frameworks, are the most widely used.
Their unique chemical, structural, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties play
an important role in the performance, triggered by light as an external stimulus, of
the resultant composites. Many compounds, mainly dyes but also ligands, ions,
complexes, biomolecules, and metal clusters can surpass their photoactivity under
hybridization with different nanostructured materials.
The photoactive function can be intrinsically part of the framework or being a
guest molecule. Its incorporation can be performed in many different ways, being
either covalently or coordinated attached, or physically embedded in the nanocages
of the hosts via a diffusion process loading (from liquid or gas phase), a crystallization inclusion method, or a ship-in-a-bottle synthesis. The followed methodology
also influences the final properties of the hybrid material.
v