Recent Advances in the Synthesis and Applications of Inorganic Polymer

Abstract

Polymers are ubiquitous in modern society. They are used in a variety of applications, ranging from sophisticated—such as electronics—to relatively simple ones like packaging. Inorganic polymers often have certain advantages over their organic counterparts—such as increased thermal stability and unique material properties—and have been an active area of research for many years. The potential technological applications that are imagined for some of these polymers, however, have mostly failed to be realized. This article aims to examine some of the advances in the general field of inorganic polymers, which have been made in the last three years. We also attempted to ascertain whether the promise of these materials will be realized in the near future, especially as advanced polymeric materials.

Keywords:

• Inorganic
• organometallic
• polymer
• silicones
• synthesis
• technology

MM would like to thank the research council of Turkey (TUBITAK) for the receipt of a PhD fellowship. MWP would like to thank Dirk Burdinski of Philips Research Europe for supplying a high-resolution version of Figure 2.