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Effect of particle size on the photochromic response of PWA/SiO2 nanocomposite

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Abstract

A series of photochromic phosphotungstic acid (PWA)/SiO2 composites were synthesized using the sol-gel method. Depending on the feeding schedule of PWA during synthesis, the size of the formed PWA/SiO2 particles varied considerably from as small as 1.2 nm to ca. 10 nm. With decreasing silica particle size, the total contact area/interaction between SiO2 and PWA increases, as revealed by FT-IR and solid-state 29Si-NMR analyses. Particularly, when the size of PWA/SiO2 is ~1 nm, crystallization of PWA is inhibited, and PWA presents as amorphous molecular entities distributing uniformly in the SiO2 host, which is in evidence in the XRD spectroscopy and HR-TEM imaging. In contrast, substantial crystallization of PWA takes place when PWA/SiO2 particles are as large as 10 nm, in which case less amount of surface free Si-OH is available for PWA to make bonds with. Photochromism occurs activated by ultraviolet light irradiation. The rate of coloration/bleaching is found to depend strongly on the particle size of PWA/SiO2; specifically, the rate increases twice when the particle size is reduced from 10 nm to 1.2 nm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tamkang University, Taipei, 25137, Taiwan, ROC

    Feng-Hsi Huang, Dar-Jong Lin, Trong-Ming Don & Liao-Ping Cheng

  2. Energy and Opto-Electronic Materials Research Center, Tamkang University, Taipei, 25137, Taiwan, ROC

    Ching-Chung Chen, Dar-Jong Lin, Trong-Ming Don & Liao-Ping Cheng

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  1. Feng-Hsi Huang
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  2. Ching-Chung Chen
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  3. Dar-Jong Lin
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  4. Trong-Ming Don
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  5. Liao-Ping Cheng
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Correspondence to Liao-Ping Cheng.

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Huang, FH., Chen, CC., Lin, DJ. et al. Effect of particle size on the photochromic response of PWA/SiO2 nanocomposite. J Nanopart Res 12, 2941–2950 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-010-9884-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-010-9884-7

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