Bringing together fundamental and applied science: The supercritical fluids route

The aim of this paper is to introduce SCF studies as a domain in which fundamental and applied researches can strongly overlap, thereby offering an original approach to stimulate interdisciplinary cross-studies. After a general presentation of supercritical fluids, some specific properties will be illustrated at the molecular level from the study of typical neat SCF and binary mixtures using vibrational spectroscopy and modelling. This part will be followed by a presentation of current researches at a macroscopic level on materials elaborated in supercritical media namely fine particle and porous materials synthesis and surface modifications. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.