WET CHEMISTRY AND SURFACE FUNCTIONALISATION

 This research addresses two objectives:

- to explore different soft chemistry synthesis methods in liquid solution and to study/optimize reaction mechanisms ;

- to attach species formed in solution on various supports (silicon, glasses, stainless steels, metals, polymers, textiles…) and to prospect/exploit derived surface functionalities.

Studied functionalities arise from:
i/ the nature of species formed in solution in relation to the synthesis methods: inorganic or hybrid organic/inorganic (O/I) polymeric species by sol-gel process, oxide nanoparticles (NPs) and nanowires (NWs) by hydrothermal synthesis, metal NPs by photochemistry, semiconducting 2D/3D nanoscale networks (nanonets) by liquid processing of NWs…
ii/ the structuration of functionalized surfaces by lithographic methods based on the development of specific procedures: sol-gel inorganic or hybrid O/I resists for photolithography, (photo-)nanoimprint, colloidal (photo-)lithography… 

  

Structured thin films made by sol-gel are studied for applications in different fields (photovoltaic, thermo-solar, LED lighting, chemical optical sensors…).

Functionalization methods developed in this research line enable us to induce superhydrophilicity or superhydrophobicity on any surface.

The objective of this research line is to obtain biofunctional surfaces combining inorganic materials and organic functionalization using wet chemistry processes.