Abstract
Modifications to the refractive indices of meso-structured organic–inorganic films caused by variations in the mole fraction of precursors in ethanolic solutions were investigated. The refractive indices were dependent on the mole fraction of C16TMS (hexadecyltrimethoxysilane) and of the C16TMS/TMOS (tetramethoxysilane) (1/1) mixture in ethanol. The dependency was determined to be nonlinear, and the phenomenon was attributed to self-assembly caused by the long alkyl groups (C16) on the C16TMS. Changes in the maximum decreasing rate of dn/dx values [(dn/dx)max—for dn/dx estimation, the curves from Fig. 1 were associated with a polynomial; using a dedicated program, dn/dx was calculated; maximum values of dn/dx were taken into account and were included in Table 1)] were used to distinguish the behavior of alcoholic precursor mixtures. In the case of using pyrene as a fluorescent probe, the ratio between two peaks from the pyrene emission spectra (I1/I3) strongly decreased as hydrophobic micro-surroundings formed due to the self-assembly process. The UV–VIS spectra of a cationic dye solution, R6G, was studied because dilute solutions of the dye in equilibrium form measurable ratios of dimers and monomers. The absorbance was modified as micro-surroundings with different polarities were formed. These three methods demonstrated that nano-structuration was present prior to the occurrence of the sol–gel process. The combination of C16TMS with other alkyltrialkoxysilane precursors having hydrocarbon chain lengths between C1 and C8 provided further evidence for a nonlinear dependence of the refractive indice and fluorescence spectra of pyrene. The properties of the final hybrids obtained by the sol–gel process were significantly affected by the precursor hydrocarbon chain lengths. DSC, XRD and FTIR measurements were used to show the plasticizing phenomena of C16 as other alkyltrialkoxysilanes (i.e., C1–C8) were added.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nicole L, Boissiere C, Grosso D, Quach A, Sanchez C (2005) J Mater Chem 15:3598–3627
Shimojima A, Kuroda K (2003) Angew Chem Int Ed 42:4057–4060
Shimojima A, Kuroda K (2006) Chem Rec Rev 6:53–63
Shimojima A, Atsumi N, Umeda N, Fujimoto Y, Kuroda K (2006) J Ceram Soc Jpn 114:819–822
Shimojima A, Umeda N, Kuroda K (2001) Chem Mater 13:3610–3616
Shimojima A, Kuroda K (2002) Langmuir 18:1144–1149
Shimojima A, Wu CW, Kuroda K (2007) J Mater Chem 17:658–663
Uricanu V, Donescu D, Banu AG, Serban S, Olteanu M, Dudau M (2004) Mat Chem Phys 85:120–130
Dong DC, Winnik (1984) Com J Chem 62:2560–2565
Purcar V, Donescu D, Petcu C, Vasilescu M (2008) J Disp Sci Technol 29:1–7
Seok SI, Ahn BY, Kim JH, Suh TS (2002) Mat Res Soc Symp Proc 726:193–198
Wirnsberger G, Yang P, Scott BJ, Chmelka BF, Stucky GD (2001) Spectro Acta Part A 57:2049–2060
Rye RR (1997) Langmuir 13:2588–2590
Gao W, Dickinson L, Grossinger C, Morin FG, Reven L (1997) Langmuir 13:115–118
Gao W, Reven L (1995) Langmuir 11:1860–1863
Ng LV, Thompson P, Sanchez J, Macosko CW, McCormick AV (1995) Macromolecules 28:6471–6476
Zaharescu M, Badescu V, Vasilescu A, Jitianu A (2003) Emerg Field Sol-Gel Technol 157–164
Matejka L, Dukh O, Hlavata D, Meissner B, Brus J (2001) Macromolecules 34:6904–6914
Moreno E, Levy D (2000) Chem Mater 12:2334–2340
Deng Q, Mauritz K A, Moore R B (1995) Hybrid Org-Inorg Composit 66–83
Makanishi T, Norisuye T, Sato H, Takemori T, Miyata QT-C, Sugimoto T, Momura S (2007) Macromolecules 34:4165–4172
Normatov J, Silverstein MS (2007) Macromolecules 40:8329–8335
Ou DL, Seddon AB (1997) J Non Cryst Solid 210:187–203
Eo YJ, Kim D-J, Bae B-S (1998) J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 13:401–413
Shimojima A, Wu C-W, Kuroda K (2007) J Mater Chem 17:658–663
Shigeno T, Nagao M, Kimura T, Kuroda K (2002) Langmuir 18(21):8102–8107
Feng X, Jiang L (2006) Adv Mater 18:3063–3078
Park ES, Ro HW, Nguyen CV, Jaffe RL, Yoon DY (2008) Chem Mater 20:1548–1554
Roach P, Shirtcliffe NJ, Newton MI (2008) Soft Matter 4:224–240
Ma M, Hill RM (2006) Curr Opin Colloid Interface Sci 11:193–202
Nilsson MA, Daniello RJ, Rothstein JP (2010) J Phys D Appl Phys 43:045301
Acknowledgments
The work has been funded by the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013 of the Romanian Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection through the Financial Agreement POSDRU/107/1.5/S/76909 and by the strategic grant POSDRU/89/1.5/S/58852, Project “Postdoctoral programme for training scientific researchers” cofinanced by the European Social Fund within the Sectoral Operational Program Human Resources Development 2007–2013.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spataru, C.I., Purcar, V., Ghiurea, M. et al. Effects of the nanoassociation of hexadecyltrimethoxysilane precursors on the sol–gel process. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 65, 344–352 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-012-2942-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-012-2942-0