Applications of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers

Abstract

Materials – ceramics, metals, and polymers – have contributed immensely to human survival and evolution. Indeed, the periodisation of human prehistory as the stone age, the bronze age, and the iron age is based on the predominant materials used in tool-making technology in each period. Considering the ubiquity of polymers in almost all technologies used in contemporary society, it is reasonable to assert that we live in the polymer age. Their increasing use is driven by the low cost of petroleum, the starting material for the synthesis of most polymers, as well as some intrinsic properties. Amongst these properties is the ability to easily tune or enhance these properties through structural modification during synthesis or combination with other materials as in composites. Most commercialised polymers are organic (see Chapter 1) but inorganic and organometallic polymers are rigorously being investigated as alternatives or complements to organic polymers. Many inorganic and organometallic polymers, such as polysiloxanes and borosilicates (see Chapter 6), are now commercial successes. Others, such as polyphosphazenes and metal–organic frameworks, have demonstrated their potential in many niches including biomedicine. This chapter will discuss the commercial and potential applications of inorganic and organometallic polymers.