Review
Sebastian Polarz
, a, 
, Carlos Lizandara Pueyoa and Michael Krumma [Author vitae]
Abstract
In the current article, we present a concept for the synthesis of complex nanoscaled materials. The synthetic strategy involves a stepwise assembly of materials starting from special molecular precursors possessing multiple information. Therefore, the article focuses on a strong pervasion of inorganic materials chemistry, solid-state chemistry and molecular chemistry. The concept introduced is finally highlighted by examples from our current research in the field of zinc oxide materials.
Graphical abstract
A concept for the synthesis of complex nanoscaled inorganic materials is presented. It involves the assembly of materials using special molecular precursors. The article focuses on the relation between inorganic materials chemistry, solid-state chemistry and molecular chemistry. The concept is highlighted by examples from the field of zinc oxide materials.
Scheme 1.
Influence of steric requirements on the molecular structures of organometallic metal-oxo clusters. Molecular structures (left) and polymeric structures (right), x being the number of bridging O atoms at the MR unit.
Scheme 3.
Influence of the binding mode of the oxygen atoms in organometallic metal-oxo clusters. The coordination mode is shown to the left and one illustrative example from the literature to the right [39], [40] and [41].
Scheme 4.
Influence of the bonding angle OMO illustrated at some structures from the literature [42], [43] and [44].
Fig. 2.
The two ways for transforming zinc-alkyl-alkoxy heterocubane clusters into nanoscaled zinc oxide. A HRTEM image and a PXRD pattern or the resulting ZnO are shown as well.
Fig. 3.
The collection of different ZnO materials that can be prepared from the class of zinc-containing, organometallic heterocubanes: Nanopowders (a) [95], mesoporous ZnO (b) [101], particles supported by mesoporous silica matrices (c) [89], size-selected, ultra pure nanoparticles (d) [96], colloids (e) [102], and thin films (f) [103].
Fig. 4.
Illustration of the self-assembly process of the new organometallic amphiphile [MeZnOPEG400]2 from the molecular to the micrometer length-scale, and a polarization microscopy image of the lyotropic phase and a photo indicating the optical properties of the gels.
Fig. 5.
The three alternatives to increase the chemical complexity of the zinc-oxo heterocubane precursor system. Exchange of one zinc (a), exchange of the methyl-group attached to zinc (b) and exchange of the alkoxy-group (c). [M] a metal containing fragment.
Vitae
| Prof. Polarz was born in Bielefeld/Germany in 1974. He received his Diploma-degree from the University of Bielefeld in 1999 working together with Prof. A. Mueller on polyoxometalate chemistry. For PhD, he moved to the Max-Planck Institute for Colloids in Interfaces where has worked in the group of Prof. M. Antonietti. After a one-year Post-Doc together with Prof. G. A. Ozin/Toronto, Canada Prof. Polarz returned to Germany in 2003 starting his academic career as an Emmy-Noether research group leader first at the Ruhr-University Bochum and then at the Technical University Berlin. In 2007 he received a call to a W-3 professorship for functional inorganic materials at the University of Konstanz. Prof. Polarz research interests involve the areas ’mesoporous materials’, ’precursor chemistry’, ’self-assembly’, ’metal oxide semiconductors’ and ’heterogeneous catalysis’. |
| Carlos Lizandara-Pueyo was born in Barcelona (Spain) in 1982. He received his Diploma in chemistry from the University of Barcelona in 2007. At the same year he went to the University of Konstanz to undertake a doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sebastian Polarz. His topic is the synthesis of novel materials by a control over the shape of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles. |
| Michael Krumm was born in Singen Htwl. (Germany) in 1984. He received his Diploma in chemistry from the University of Konstanz in 2009. He then remained in Konstanz to do his doctor’s degree with Prof. Dr. Sebastian Polarz working on new ways to synthesize functional metal-chalkogenid-materials from molecular precursors. |
