SANS Study of Zirconia-Silica and Titania-Silica Hybrid Materials

New silica-based hybrid materials have been produced by the sol-gel process. Samples with compositions xMO2·(100 − x)SiO2 (with M = Zr, Ti and x ≤ 10 mol%) were prepared with polydimethylsiloxane, silanol terminated, with different molecular weights. In the present work the microstructure of samples prepared with a volume ratio organic/inorganic of 2/3 was investigated by Small Angle Neutron Scattering. The results show that a rather homogeneous hybrid material can be obtained. It is observed that the polymer is well distributed in the inorganic matrix and that the addition of MO2 perturbs its local conformation when it has low molecular weight. The inorganic oxide network in the hybrid was found to develop as in pure inorganic dried gels.