C Jeffrey Brinker

C. Jeffrey Brinker is widely recognized for his pioneering work in sol-gel chemistry - the formation of ceramic materials from molecular precursors. His initial efforts addressed the processing of highly refractory glasses like fused silica at remarkably low temperatures - less than half that of conventional melt-processing. He then turned his attention to the preparation of porous materials useful for a wide range of applications including antireflective coatings, sensors, membranes,...See more

C. Jeffrey Brinker is widely recognized for his pioneering work in sol-gel chemistry - the formation of ceramic materials from molecular precursors. His initial efforts addressed the processing of highly refractory glasses like fused silica at remarkably low temperatures - less than half that of conventional melt-processing. He then turned his attention to the preparation of porous materials useful for a wide range of applications including antireflective coatings, sensors, membranes, adsorbents, and thermal and acoustic insulation. Through exploitation of the scaling relationships of mass and size of fractal objects, he devised a fractal engineering approach to tailor the porosity and pore size of these materials. This early work culminated in the publication of Sol-Gel Science in 1990 (with co-author George Scherer), a book that remains the most highly cited reference in this rapidly growing field. See less