ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION While searching for new materials with improved properties, scientists are increasingly focusing on the generation of composite materials instead of the synthesis of new molecular species. The main objective of these efforts is the combination of macroscopically immiscible components (e.g., metals and polymers or organic and inorganic compounds in general) on a mesoscopic length scale. Mesoscopically structured hybrid materials are fascinating because they often exhibit the typical characteristics of the components they comprise, such as the properties of a metal along with the solubility of an organic compound.
