Investigating and understanding in detail the sol-to-gel transition in inorganic and hybrid systems is a very challenging task. The transition is a critical phenomenon that can only be described with statistical but not thermodynamic models. Graphic schemes, therefore, cannot easily represent such a complicated process. The sol-to-gel transition has been illustrated with the support of several drawings. Representing complex media, such as the sol and the gel, by a scheme, is however quite tricky. Using oversimplified pictures can mislead the comprehension of the process, which is difficult to describe in general terms, as it depends so much on the synthesis and processing conditions. In this short tutorial, a fault-finding discussion based on the most common pictures drawn to illustrate the sol-to-gel transition has been used for a critical description of the process.

详细研究和理解无机和杂化体系中的溶胶-凝胶转变是一项非常艰巨的任务。这种转变是一种关键现象，只能用统计模型来描述，而不能用热力学模型来描述。因此，图形方案无法轻松地表示如此复杂的过程。溶胶-凝胶转变已在几张图的支持下进行了说明。但是，通过方案表示复杂的介质（例如溶胶和凝胶）非常棘手。使用过分简化的图片可能会误导该过程的理解，这在一般意义上难以描述，因为它很大程度上取决于合成和处理条件。在这个简短的教程中，