Polymerization of hybrid sol-gel materials catalyzed by photoacids generation

Abstract

Various methodologies combining sol-gel chemistry and photopolymerization were implemented to yield novel organic-inorganic nanocomposite photomaterials through photoacids generation. The first part of this paper focuses on cationic systems based on bifunctional organic-inorganic precursor. The photoacid-catalyzed cationic polymerization and sol-gel polycondensation of an epoxytrialkoxysilane precursor enabled the simultaneous generation of the organic and inorganic phases. With a similar strategy, the combination of both radical and cationic photoinitiators is highlighted to achieve an efficient polymerization of a methacrylate silane derivative. Finally, the last part is devoted to the sol-gel photopolymerization of 3 different organo-bridged trialkoxysilane precursors [(R'O)3Si-R-Si(OR')3]. © 2010 CPST.