Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) based resins are materials used in large amounts on spacecrafts and satellites. When such materials are exposed to proton irradiation, especially in geostationary environment, they tend to crack and turn yellow, this being detrimental to their operational status. Here we present the elaboration and ageing of hybrid materials made of the embedding of non- or vinyl-functionalized silica nanoparticles (SiO₂ NPs) assembled into a photonic crystal at the surface of a PDMS matrix. The influences of the size of the nanoparticles, the thickness of the crystal as well as the grafting density of vinyl moieties on the proton resistance of the materials were studied. The materials maintained the initial transparency of PDMS in a wide spectroscopic range. Transparency of the materials was evaluated using UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy before and after accelerated proton-induced ageing was carried out to simulate part of proton irradiation encountered in geostationary environment. Fourier Transformed Infra-Red-Attenuated Total Reflection (FTIR-ATR) experiments allowed comprehensive study of the mechanisms leading to the stabilization of the materials in terms of cracking and yellowing. Stabilization in regards of cracking was revealed thanks to optical and scanning electron microscopy.

聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）基树脂是在航天器和卫星上大量使用的材料。当此类材料暴露于质子辐射下时，尤其是在地球静止环境中，它们倾向于破裂并变黄，这对它们的运行状态有害。在这里，我们介绍了由非官能化或乙烯基官能化的二氧化硅纳米粒子（SiO ₂NPs）在PDMS矩阵的表面组装成光子晶体。研究了纳米粒子的大小，晶体的厚度以及乙烯基部分的接枝密度对材料的质子电阻的影响。该材料在很宽的光谱范围内保持了PDMS的初始透明度。在进行加速的质子诱导老化以模拟地球静止环境中遇到的部分质子辐照之前和之后，使用UV-vis-NIR光谱仪评估材料的透明度。傅里叶变换红外衰减全反射（FTIR-ATR）实验允许对导致裂纹和泛黄的材料稳定化机理进行全面研究。