In this review we present a short overview of the main fields of application of mesoporous ordered films obtained via templating self-assembly. These materials, because of their very special properties such as high surface area, ordered porosity, versatile functionalization of the pore surface, have been widely used for developing advanced functional applications. Mesoporous ordered films have also shown a high capability of integration in current material processing technologies also taking advantage of the high flexibility of the synthesis. A surprisingly large variety of devices and applications have been developed so far which ranges from sensors to supercapacitors and biodevices. All these applications have in common the exploitation of ordered porosity on the mesoscale and in general a strong dependence on pore topology, the nature of the pore surface and pore accessibility has been demonstrated for most of the cases. Even if a high number of examples of applications have been reported still many more are expected to come in the near future.

The appearance of new and lethal viruses and their potential threat urgently requires innovative antiviral systems.

Sol–gel derived hybrid organic–inorganic materials present several advantages to the design of materials for optical applications: they have versatile and relatively facile chemistry; are easy to shape and pattern, and they have good mechanical and excellent optical properties. Their nanocomposite structure gives opportunities to fine tune the optical response and to prepare many different types of photonic material having engineered linear and non-linear optical properties. Particular attention has been paid to hybrid materials for non-linear optics in optoelectronics applications. In this article we review some of the main advances in the application of sol–gel hybrid organic–inorganic materials to the field of non-linear optics.