Sol-gel processing is a soft-chemistry method to obtain functional materials at low temperatures. This route can be used to produce very sophisticated nanomaterials and to tailor the materials to very specific applications. Adsorption and detection of pollutants, water purification and soil remediation represent challenging fields of application that can be exploited by sol-gel materials. In this volume several contributions from invited speakers and participants at the NATO advanced research workshop on "Sol-gel approaches to materials for pollution control, water purification and soil remediation," which has been held in Kiev, Ukraine on October 2007, are reported. The book offers a wide and updated overview of the most advanced sol-gel methods for materials processing and at the same time presents several case studies concerning possible solutions for environmental issues. General articles on sol-gel from the invited speakers and focused research articles allow getting inside sol-gel applications on this very important field.

This book is devoted to general questions of the chemistry of metal alkoxides - including physiochemical properties, structure, specific features of single groups of alkoxides, theoretical principles of their use, and major applications of this method in the preparation of functional materials.

Biocompatible Hybrid Oxide Nanoparticles for Human Health: From Synthesis to Applications explores the synthesis, structure, properties and applications of functionalized oxide nanoparticles. The books shows the applications of materials depending on their composition and structure, with a focus on silicon, titanium and iron oxides, each of which was chosen because of their unique features, including silica because it is chemically resistant to most organic solvents, harmless to living organisms, can thicken flowable formulations, and increase the strength of materials, titania for its unique chemical, optical, electrophysical and bactericidal properties, and iron-containing materials because they possess important magnetic properties.

Sol-gel processing is a soft-chemistry method to obtain functional materials at low temperatures. This route can be used to produce very sophisticated nanomaterials and to tailor the materials to very specific applications. Adsorption and detection of pollutants, water purification and soil remediation represent challenging fields of application that can be exploited by sol-gel materials. In this volume several contributions from invited speakers and participants at the NATO advanced research workshop on "Sol-gel approaches to materials for pollution control, water purification and soil remediation," which has been held in Kiev, Ukraine on October 2007, are reported. The book offers a wide and updated overview of the most advanced sol-gel methods for materials processing and at the same time presents several case studies concerning possible solutions for environmental issues. General articles on sol-gel from the invited speakers and focused research articles allow getting inside sol-gel applications on this very important field.