  The development of nanostructured hybrid systems is a flourishing area of
research, which brings together chemistry, physics and materials science. These
systems are composed of nanoparticles with interesting properties (e.g.
optical, magnetic, catalytic) dispersed within an organic matrix. Control of
both the position and orientation of the particles in a precise and
reproducible way is an important goal. Towards this goal, the use of lyotropic
liquid crystals as host phases is a promising strategy that has prompted
sustained experimental work over the last decade. Here we briefly review this
field, with an emphasis on the structure and the physical characterization of
these novel materials.
