Materials syntheses are generally more complex than syntheses of inorganic or organic compounds, and specific characterization methods play a more important role. Materials synthesis protocols often suffer from unclarities, irreproducibility, lack in detail and lack in standards. The need to change this situation is the main motivation for this book. A number of detailed protocols has been collected, ranging from organic polymers to carbonaceous and ceramic materials, from gels to porous and layered materials and from powders and nanoparticles to films. Preparation methods include intercalation and flux methods, sol-gel processing, templating methods for porous materials, sonochemistry or spray pyrolysis.
Each contribution provides detailed and unambiguous description of the hardware, specific characteristics of the procedure, scope of applicability as well as methods that unequivocally identify and characterize the material and allow checking whether the synthesis was successful.