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Preparation of organically modified hybrid nanocomposites for optical applications

M. GANJAEE1, M. MOHSENI1,* , E. MOHAJERANI2, Y. AGHILI1, S. MORADIAN1

Affiliation

  1. Department of Polymer and Color Eng., Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
  2. Laser Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Organic-Inorganic Materials (OIMs) have, in recent years, shown promising applications in optical devices. This paper reports the preparation and characterization of a series of hybrid OIMs containing silica networks. To this end, various amounts of 2-hydroxylethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were co-polymerized with 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxy silane by the use of free radical reactions followed by sol-gel processes. Some optical, mechanical and morphological properties of the resultant dip-coated films formed on glass slides, as well as monolithic samples were investigated by visible spectrophotometry, FT-IR spectroscopy, hardness and scratch resistance measurements, thermal analysis, SEM and AFM microscopies. The results revealed that increasing the silane co-monomer component, led to highly transparent coatings of siloxane structure, the size of the inorganic phase varying between 40 and 100 nanometers. Samples composed of 50 percent by weight of silane co-monomer, showed higher hardnesses as well as much better solvent rub resistances. These may be attributed to greater cross-linking density being reached as a result of more complete hydrolysis and condensation reactions of the alkoxy groups. This coincides with higher temperature resistances of such resultant nanocomposites (up to 340oC) as determined by thermogravimetric analyses. The behavior of these nanocomposites doped with Rhodamin575 dye lasers were studied by fluorometric spectroscopy. The displacements of the emission maxima of such dye laser entities are discussed in terms of their respective nanocomposite structures..

Keywords

Organic-Inorganic Materials (OIMs), Nanocomposites, Optical Applications, Solid-State Dye Lasers.

Submitted at: Dec. 17, 2007
Accepted at: March 17, 2008

Citation

M. GANJAEE, M. MOHSENI, E. MOHAJERANI, Y. AGHILI, S. MORADIAN, Preparation of organically modified hybrid nanocomposites for optical applications, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 10, Iss. 3, pp. 578-588 (2008)