> VIII Workshop Italiano Sol-Gel – Trento, Italy – June 21-22, 2012

The Trento Workshop has been successful in gathering together the most active Italian scientists in the sol-gel field and provided an opportunity to discuss the most important and up-to-date topics in the field of sol-gel materials and their many applications.

The 2012 edition was attended by more than 70 participants between academic and industrial researchers, post-doc fellows and students. The meeting started with a key-note lecture delivered by Dr. Florence Babonneau from UPMC-CNRS-Collège de France on “combined spectroscopic and modeling approach for studying interactions between organic species and silica surfaces”. The scientific program was organized in five oral and one poster sessions, with 34 contributions. The scientific quality was generally high testifying the positive evolution of the Italian Sol-Gel community, and the most popular topics included hybrid materials and applications in optics, sensors, coatings and biomedical.

The workshop has received the endorsement of the International Sol-Gel Society represented at the Meeting by Prof. Massimo Guglielmi, who greeted the participants during the opening remarks and highlighted the importance for the Italian Sol-Gel community to be more active and present in the ISGS.

The Organizing Committee acknowledges the ISGS, and the Fondazione Bruno Kessler- Trento (FBK) for providing the meeting location.

Sandra Dirè
Maurizio Ferrari
Gian Domenico Sorarù

www.solgel2012.ing.unitn.it