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Staff

30 Researchers and teacher-researchers
4 Emeritus
10 Ingineers and technicians
7 fixed-term contracts for researchers / post-docs / ATER
20 PhD students

The Porous and Hybrid Materials department brings together within the ICGM complementary expertise in the design, development, characterization and modeling of porous materials and functional hybrid materials, up to the optimization of their interfaces and properties, particularly in adsorption and catalysis.

The department’s project is to develop new ways of developing porous and/or hybrid materials through more environmentally friendly approaches, and to develop advanced, experimental and modeling tools, which are coupled to achieve robust characterizations of these functional (nano)materials. The approaches developed aim to establish the structure-property relationships of materials, necessary for the optimization of their performance in the fields mainly of adsorption and catalysis. The fundamental advances expected will make it possible to answer questions related to the problems of applications with strong societal stakes such as environmental protection, sustainable development, health and energy. 

Know-how / Skills

The studies that are developed are based on the skills of the Department’s actors in the following areas:

  • Development of inorganic and hybrid functional materials and porous materials by soft chemistry routes, based mainly on programmed organization approaches of precursors designed à la carte. They combine organic or inorganic polycondensation reactions on the one hand and assemblies of organic and inorganic units on the other hand, which can be coupled with original functionalization and shaping processes.
  • Caraceterization of materials with the development of innovative ex situ and in situ characterization methodologies based on advanced techniques in particular calorimetry, spectroscopy, radiation scattering (light, neutrons and X-rays), X-ray and neutron diffraction and microscopy.
  • Study of the properties of materials, in particular at interfaces, with specific attention paid to the optimization of the interaction of surfaces with the surrounding environment, through the study of adsorption properties, the control of surface reactivities and the search for performance in heterogeneous catalysis.
  • Modelization of systems with the development of multi-scale theoretical chemistry calculation methodologies to not only discover in silico new materials but also to understand their formation mechanisms and predict their properties and reactivities.

The overall project of the department is based on four research axes, which represent the pillars of the department in terms of skills developed, for the realization of transversal projects on unifying themes related to major societal challenges.

A word from the manager
The Porous and Hybrid Materials Department was created in 2021 following the observation for years of the multiplicity of research activities carried out in this field of research by ICGM researchers, previously dispersed in the different teams of the Institute. This observation led the actors concerned to want to gather within a new department around the chemistry of porous and hybrid materials and the study of their physico-chemical properties. This desire was justified by an effective sharing of the scientific concerns of these researchers and the experimental tools used for the development and characterization of inorganic or hybrid materials and nanomaterials with diverse properties. The restructuring of the ICGM in 2021 represented a unique opportunity to build a joint project based on the following four pillars: 1) Design of precursors and control of their assembly, 2) Materials engineering: control of structures, textures, morphologies and functionalities, 3) Adsorption and phenomena at interfaces and 4) Heterogeneous catalysis and surface reactivity. A major concern of our department is to ensure a dynamic scientific life, where everyone can benefit from the sharing of knowledge generated, which will be facilitated by the scientific coherence of the department.
Corine Gérardin
Head of department
Research activities

The Porous and Hybrid Materials department brings together within the ICGM complementary expertise in the design, development, characterization and modeling of porous materials and functional hybrid materials, up to the optimization of their interfaces and properties, particularly in adsorption and catalysis.

The department’s project is to develop new ways of developing porous and/or hybrid materials through more environmentally friendly approaches, and to develop advanced, experimental and modeling tools, which are coupled to achieve robust characterizations of these functional (nano)materials. The approaches developed aim to establish the structure-property relationships of materials, necessary for the optimization of their performance in the fields mainly of adsorption and catalysis. The fundamental advances expected will make it possible to answer questions related to the problems of applications with strong societal stakes such as environmental protection, sustainable development, health and energy.