Preface

REMCES (French acronym of the Moroccan Forum for solid chemistry) are the meeting on solid state chemistry organised since 1983 in different Moroccan universities; the aim of the meetings was to favour the cooperation between scientists from different countries and to offer to researchers an opportunity to present their works and exchange their experiences. The 9th meeting (MEMCES 9) took place in Agadir from October, 30 to 1st November 2002. It was organised by the faculty of sciences of IBN ZOHR University. More than 300 researchers from 18 countries have participate: South Africa, Algeria, Germany Belgium, Canada, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, UK, Egypt, Holland, Portugal, USA, Tunisia, Syria, Japan, and Switzerland. Its scientific program included 10 plenary conferences; 15 oral communications and 289 posters. The main goals of the meeting were: - to focus on the recent advances in the field of solid state chemistry and their industrial applications; - to establish links between University and industry; - to promote cooperation between national and international researchers. The topics presented covered rnethods of preparing solid state materials, their technical characterisations, Their physical properties and their industrial applications. The organizing cornmitte