The hydrolysis and condensation of a silylated derivative of ureidopyrimidinone led to nanostructured hybrid silica, such as that depicted, as clearly shown by powder XRD studies. The nanostructuring was directly related to molecular recognition through hydrogen bonding. By combining FTIR, solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopic data, the transcription of the hydrogen-bonding networks from the precursor to the final product was clearly evidenced.

Size controlled cyano-bridged coordination polymer nanoparticles Mn1.5[Cr(CN)6] have been synthesized and organized at the nanolevel by using the room temperature ionic liquid crystal (ILC) C12-MIMBF4. The as-obtained material was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), optical microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. These analyses reveal the presence of a long-range organization of cyano-bridged nanoparticles at the nanoscale level within the ILC phase. The magnetic study of these nanoparticles reveals an appearance of a nanocluster-glass-like regime caused by magnetostatic interactions between neighboring nanoparticles. The properties of these organized nanoparticles have been compared with the properties of nanoparticles of the same composition and stoichiometry obtained and randomly dispersed into the isotropic IL C10-MIMBF4.

We have investigated the nonlinear rheology of a soft composite transient network made of a solution of surfactant wormlike micelles (WM) in the semidilute regime that are reversibly bridged by telechelic polymers. The samples are well described, in the linear regime, as two Maxwell fluids components blends, characterized by two markedly different characteristic times. The slow mode is mainly related to the transient network of entangled WM, and the fast mode to the network of telechelic chains. In this paper we investigate the nonlinear viscoelasticity and show that the nonlinear behavior reflects as well the behavior of two coupled networks. On one hand, stress relaxation experiments and time-resolved stress response following the application of a constant shear rate show that, in the weakly nonlinear regime, these novel composite networks stiffen. A fourfold increase of the elastic modulus with respect to the linear value is reached for strain amplitude of about 200%. This strain hardening is due to the nonlinear stretching of the telechelic polymer chains. On the other hand, the samples exhibit shear banding in the highly nonlinear regime, similarly to pure semidilute solutions of WM.

Palladium nanowires (of length a few tens of nanometers) are synthesized in a hexagonal mesophase formed by a quaternary system (Pd-doped water, surfactant, cosurfactant, and oil) by electron beam irradiation. The mesophases can be doped by high concentrations of palladium (0.1 M) without any disturbance of the structure of the mesophases which allows the quantitative synthesis of 1D Pd nanostructures. We found an increase in the average length of the nanowires with the amount of cosurfactant (pentanol) that assists the reduction/growth processes. The electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol was selected as a test reaction in alkaline medium where Pd is known to be among the best electrode materials. We found that the Pd nanowires exhibit both a very important electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation and a very high stability.

Bimetallic Pd-Au nanostructures were synthesized in the soft templates provided by surfactant hexagonal mesophases. The nanostructures are constituted by a core rich in gold and a Pd porous shelf. The electrocatalytic activity of these nanostructures for ethanol oxidation in basic medium was compared with that of alloyed Pd-Au nanoparticles synthesized in solution. The Pd-Au alloy is active toward the oxidation of ethanol in an alkaline medium but is not durable in realizing this process. The Pd-shell-Au-core nanostructures synthesized in mesophases are promising for application in direct ethanol fuel cells as they exhibit a very good electrocatalytic activity and a high stability.

Ultrathin palladium hexagonal nanosheets were synthesized in emulsions constituted of droplets of toluene containing Pd complexes in water and stabilized by CTAB as surfactant and in quaternary mesophases formed by water, toluene containing Pd complexes, CTAB, and a cosurfactant. We have identified slow reduction and nucleation provided by CO and adsorption at the CTAB interface as key factors for the formation of Pd nanosheets. These nanosheets exhibit a broad absorption band from the visible to the near-infrared region.

We investigate dynamical heterogeneities in the collective relaxation of a concentrated microgel system, for which the packing fraction can be conveniently varied by changing the temperature. The packing fraction dependent mechanical properties are characterised by a fluid-solid transition, where the system properties switch from a viscous to an elastic low-frequency behaviour. Approaching this transition from below, we find that the range of spatial correlations in the dynamics increases. Beyond this transition, the spatial correlation range reaches a maximum, extending over the entire observable system size of approximately 5 mm. Increasing the packing fraction even further leads to a second transition, which is characterised by the development of large zones of lower and higher dynamical activity that are well separated from each other; the range of correlation decreases at this point. This striking non-monotonic dependence of the spatial correlation length on volume fraction is reminiscent of the behaviour recently observed at the jamming/rigidity transition in granular systems (Lechenault et al. 2008). We identify this second transition as the transition to 'squeezed' states, where the constituents of the system start to exert direct contact forces on each other, such that the dynamics becomes increasingly determined by imbalanced stresses. Evidence of this transition is also found in the frequency dependence of the storage and loss moduli, which become increasingly coupled as direct friction between the particles starts to contribute to the dissipative losses within the system. To our knowledge, our data provide the first observation of a qualitative change in dynamical heterogeneity as the dynamics switch from purely thermally-driven to stress-driven.