Sol-Gel synthesis of TiO2-SiO2-glymo nanocomposite

Abstract

The sol-gel process has received a great deal of attention in the past decade due to advantages such as low temperature processing and high homogeneity of final products. The preparation of TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO composite by the sol–gel method is efficient at producing thin, transparent multi-component oxide layers. In this study, the preparation of TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO composite and its characterization were investigated. TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO nanocomposite was prepared from tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), titanium n-butoxide (TBO) and GLYMO (3-glycidoxypropyl)-trimethoxysilane) catalyzed with acid. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to characterize the surface properties of composite films. The chemical structure of the composite was evaluated by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. Particle size was determined by a particle sizer. In summary, transparent and uniform nano colloidal TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO composite solutions were successfully synthesized though the sol-gel method. The turbidity values of the TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO composites were in the range of 8.4±0.4–12.7±0.6 ntu, and the pH values were in the range of 4.8 to 5.2. The particle sizes of the obtained composites were in the range of 5.9±1.3–22.1±1.2 nm. It was determined that the viscosity of the TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO composite solutions was approximately equal to 3-7 mPas. The thin transparent coatings obtained from these solutions were evenly distributed. © 2019 Revista Romana de Materiale/Romanian Journal of Materials. All rights reserved.