Synthesis and characterization of titania/MQ silicone resin hybrid nanocomposite via sol-gel process

Inorganic-organic hybrid materials were prepared via an aqueous sol-gel technique from tetra-n-butyl titanate as the precursor of titania, in the presence of MQ silicone resin. The samples were characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis, DSC, TGA, SEM and XRD. It was illustrated that the Ti-O-Si covalent bonds had formed in the hybrid nanocomposite which were highly transparent in visible light region, and yet had high absorption in UV light range. The thermal stability of the hybrid materials was gradually improved with the increase of titania content. It was concluded that the hybrid material which particle size was around 50 nm were amorphous when the crystallization of titania was retarded by MQ silicone resin.