A novel photoconductive PVK/SiO2 interpenetrated network prepared by the sol-gel process

In this work, we describe the preparation of a novel photoconductive sol-gel material based on an organic/inorganic interpenetrating network (IPN). The composition of the sol-gel photoconductive material mimics the well-known polymeric one based on poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) as the charge-transporting matrix and 2,4,7-trinitro-9-fluorenone (TNF) as the sensitizer. The resulting photoconductive material (PVK/SiO2 IPN) shows a photosensitivity of 10(-11) cm/(Omega W) in range to that reported for some analogue polymeric compounds and the highest ever reported for hybrid sol-gel materials.