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Sol–gel hybrid films based on organosilanes with long alkyl chains

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Abstract

In this paper, we report the synthesis of different silica materials via the acid-catalyzed sol–gel process at room temperature (25°C), using silane precursors with various alkyl chains (dimethyl, octyl and/or hexadecyl), in order to obtain thin films with anti-reflective and hydrophobic properties. Chemical, optical and structural properties of obtained silica materials were thoroughly characterized with various techniques such as FTIR and UV–Vis spectroscopy, AFM analysis, ellipsometric measurements, ESEM and TEM microscopy. Wettability of thin films was evaluated by water contact angle measurements. FTIR spectra of silica materials revealed that the intensity of the Si–O–Si characteristic bands varies depending on the precursor type. From AFM results, we found that the obtained films present a different microstructure as a function of the silica sol formulations. The hydrophobic character of the thin films increases with increasing the length of the hydrophobic chains following the order: dimethyl < octyl < hexadecyl. UV–Vis analysis of the coatings covered with silica materials presents a low reflectance (15.5%). The proposed method in this work has the potential to be a low-cost processing path of nanostructured anti-reflection transparent substrates.

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Acknowledgments

The work has been supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministery of Research and Innovation, PCCDI—UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.2-PCCDI-2017-0428, within PNCDI III (Nos. 40PCCDI, PC4-FOTOMAH) and supported by Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation -MCI through INCDCP ICECHIM Bucharest 2019-2022 Core Program PN. 19.23 - Chem-Ergent, Project No. 19.23.03.04.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research and Development Institute for Chemistry and Petrochemistry – ICECHIM, Splaiul Independentei 202, 060021, Bucharest, Romania

    Valentin Rădiţoiu, Violeta Purcar, Alina Rădiţoiu, Monica Florentina Raduly, Adriana Nicoleta Frone, Elvira Alexandrescu, Raluca Şomoghi, Raluca Manea, Georgiana Cornelia Ispas & Luminiţa Eugenia Wagner

  2. Institute of Physical Chemistry “Ilie Murgulescu” of the Romanian Academy, Splaiul Independentei 202, 060021, Bucharest, Romania

    Mihai Anastasescu & Mihai Stoica

  3. Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Polizu St, 011061, Bucharest, Romania

    Simona Căprărescu

Authors
  1. Valentin Rădiţoiu
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  2. Violeta Purcar
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  3. Alina Rădiţoiu
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  4. Monica Florentina Raduly
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  10. Raluca Manea
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Contributions

VP conceived and designed the experiments; VR established the methodology; AR reflectance analysis; FMR FTIR analysis; ANF water contact angle measurements; MA AFM analysis; MS ellipsometric measurements; EA ESEM analysis; RŞ TEM analysis; LEW and SC supervised the experiments; RM and GCI designed the manuscript. Each contributor was essential to the production of this work.

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Correspondence to Violeta Purcar.

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Rădiţoiu, V., Purcar, V., Rădiţoiu, A. et al. Sol–gel hybrid films based on organosilanes with long alkyl chains. J Coat Technol Res 17, 1389–1399 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11998-020-00359-8

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