Hybrid Sol−Gel-Derived Polymers:  Applications of Multifunctional Materials

Abstract

The homogeneous combination of inorganic and organic moieties in a single-phase material provides unique possibilities to tailor the mechanical, electrical, and optical properties with respect to numerous applications. The synthetic pathway follows the well-known sol−gel procedure. Nevertheless, the establishment of defined hybrid products necessitates a basic understanding of the underlying chemistry as well as of the parameters influencing the processing techniques. Modern spectroscopy provides versatile tools, e.g., multinuclear NMR experiments and Raman scattering to investigate the sol−gel processing of organo(alkoxy)silanes in their co-condensation reactions with main group or transition metal alkoxides as well as in their copolymerization reactions with each other or with organic molecules. This almost infinite modular design concept has led to the industrial application of coatings for transparent plastics, glasses, and metals to prevent these substrates from mechanical abrasion, permeation, or corrosion or to achieve decorative functions. Further passive optical properties can be realized by generating submicrometer surface patterns. By the integration of organic or inorganic dopants, like dyes or nanoparticles, highly sophisticated multifunctional hybrid polymers or nanocomposites are accessible and have become important to achieve active optical functions, e.g. switching, light harvesting, or storage media. Recently developed porous and dense bulk hybrid polymers have shown that the range of possible applications is not limited to surface refinement by coatings. This contribution reviews the present status as well as the perspectives of these types of advanced materials.

New Sol-gel Formulations to Increase the Barrier Effect of a Protective Coating Against the Corrosion and Wear of Galvanized Steel

“…Hybridization is not only a creative alternative to the design of new materials but also offers unique opportunities to develop innovative industrial applications 4 . These materials combine the hardness, wear resistance and thermal stability of the ceramic component with the flexibility, transparency and tunable adhesion of the organic materials [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . The sol-gel method allows to control the synthesis of multifunctional hybrid materials, where the organic, inorganic and, in some cases, biological constituents are mixed at a nanometer scale [12][13][14][15][16] .…”

One-step and high-density protein immobilization on epoxysilane-modified silica nanoparticles

“…Figure 2 shows the FT-IR spectra of bare nanoparticles and the nanoparticles reacted with GPTMS of different concentrations. Although the characteristic band of epoxy group at around 1150 cm −1 overlapped with strong absorption of the bare silica, alkyl C-H stretching vibration band at 2944 cm −1 and its bending vibration bands at 1343 cm −1 and 1465 cm −1 [30][31][32][33][34] were clearly visible in the spectra of the modified particle. The results indicate that epoxysilane was attached successfully to the surface of the silica nanoparticles.…”

Studies of Wear and Tear and Hydrogen Bonding in Dendrimeric Fluorinated Polysilsequioxanes Coatings on an Aluminum Surface

“…The information on the amount of water available for the hydrolysis of silanes and subsequent condensation has been studied by several spectroscopic techniques, such as FTIR [27][28][29] , Raman [30][31] , UV-vis, NMR 32 , neutron scattering, etc. [33][34] .…”