The website of the Conference:
www.solgel2013madrid.com
General Report
It attracted about 500 delegates from 60 countries all over the world. With its 123 Keynote, Invited and Oral Presentations and over 400 Posters it presented a vivid and vibrant image of the Sol-Gel science of today.
Its most apparent and impressive feature is diversity. Sol-Gel Chemistry today is actively used in almost all domains of Materials Science.
The Program of the Conference in a very efficient way has offered space and time to make these different application domains visible and showed that all of them have in fact Sol-Gel as the red thread.
It would be impossible in this short overview to even mention all the excellent talks contributing to this impression, but one needs definitely to note those by Clément Sanchez envisaging how Sol-Gel Chemistry opens the toolbox for engineering the interfaces at nanoscale and creating a rich plethora of hybrid materials, by Luis Liz-Marzan showing how nanocomposite architectures comprised of gold and silver nanoparticles and silica can be used to detect ultralow concentrations of biological analytes using surface enhanced Raman scattering, by Bruce Dunn demonstrating how diverse sol-gel materials can serve for construction of efficient energy storage sources such as batteries and supercapacitors, by Joanna Aizenberg and also by Michael Aizenberg, who presented a breath-taking sequence of examples exploiting the self-assembly from sol-gel solutions in creation of 3D (inverse opal) nanostructures demonstrating smart behavior and homeostasis when exposed to specific surface reactions.
The best formulation of the role of Sol-Gel today could be found in the thought-provoking Life Achievement Award lecture of David Avnir “Better Chemistry through Ceramics”. It made a reference to the conference series “Better Ceramics through Chemistry” held in 1980-es and the beginning of the 1990-es. Their focus was distinctly on making better glass and ceramics and then also thin ceramic films from gels.
The last 20 years of development of Sol-Gel showed it to be capable not only to solve a much broader spectrum of problems but also able to principally improve chemistry it is used for, pushing the limits of miscibility, hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity, combining in a functional reactor the reactants normally destroying each other, introducing enhanced steroselectivity in the absence of stereocenters, and principally improving stability and reactivity of biomolecules.
Probably the most inspiring is that Sol-Gel Science in spite of, or, may be just due to this diversity has not lost its identity. The knowledge and expertise associated with it are more requested than ever.
The Conference in Madrid was a totally enjoyable celebration of the 10-years jubilee of our Society.
by Vadim Kessler
Awards
This year again, the ISGS awarded several Prizes in recognition of interesting, creative and quality works:
– Life Achievement Award: Prof. David Avnir
– Ulrich Award: Dr. Yusuke Daiko
– 4 best poster Awardees
– 2 travel grants: Carmen Carrasquilla, Christiane Müller
Further information:
https://www.isgs.org/index.php/awards/252-isgs-awards-and-grants-during-sol-gel-2013
Industrial session
The new session “Industrialization of Sol-Gel Science and Technology and Innovative Applications” introduced this year was successful and has perfectly fulfilled its two goals: highlight the potential of sol-gel science for different industrial applications ranging from bulk to thin-films, facilitate exchange between the academic and the industrial worlds.. It was an incentive to attend for a non academic public. The format “plenary” for this session was appreciated by the attendees.
ISGS Sponsors during Sol-Gel 2013
The following Companies take part, through the sponsoring, in the achievement of the 17th International Sol-Gel Conference and contribute to its success!
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http://www.eads.com/eads/france/fr/le-groupe/innovation.html EADS Innovation Works is the EADS Group’s global research and technology network. It provides world-class capabilities in aeronautics, defence and space research topics. It is organized in seven trans-national Technical Capability Centres: Composites Technologies – Metallic Technologies & Surface Engineering – Structures Engineering, Production & Aeromechanics – Sensors, Electronics and Systems Integration – Engineering, Physics, IT, Security Services & Simulation – Energy & Propulsion – Innovative Concepts & Scenarios. |
Contribution: Industrial Session |
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www.nsg.com Nippon Sheet Glass Co. ltd operates three worldwide business lines, serving the Building Products, Automotive and Specialty Glass markets. The mission of the NSG Group is to be the global leader in innovative high performance glass and glazing solutions, contributing to energy conservation and generation, working safely and ethically. |
Contribution: Best poster Awards |
 www.springer.com |
Springer is a global leader in the publication of journals and books for the scientific, technical, and medical (STM) communities, delivering quality content through innovative information products and services. | Contribution: travel grants, books gifts to all rewarded |
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http://www.research.ibm.com/ IBM Research – Almaden: the major areas of research at Almaden are Science and Technology, including fundamental science, nanotechnology, spin physics and photoresists; Computer Science, Service Science Research, from storage and file systems to server software and systems management.. |
Contribution: Industrial session |
ISGS Come Together Party
On Sunday August 25th, more than 200 participants has attended. This pre-conference party in a friendly setting was organized to socialize and network, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of ISGS, to thank the ISGS members.
Some pictures
To thank the members!
