Hybrid materials

Inorganic Polymers Particles

Thermally stable Abrasion resistant Weather resistant Chemically inert Rigid

Organic Polymers
Readily processable Good adhesion Flexible Tough

Organic inorganic hybrids

Not physical mixtures but Nanocomposite Properties of hybrids are not merely sum of individual component Subdivision Class I Weak bonds (hydrogen, van der waals bonds) Class II - Strong chemical bonds (covalent or iono-covalent)

Nature combines (bio)organic

and inorganic components at nanometer scale - mollusc shells / bone /teeth tissues in vertebrates
Bone the nanocomposite that has been around for millions of years!

Ancient man made hybrid

materials Egyptian inks, green bodies of china ceramics. Used in Maya civilization

Soft chemistry based routes

Conventional Sol-gel pathways
Low temperature route to inorganic oxides and glasses
Si(OC2H5)4 + 4 H2O
H+ Or OH-

SiO2 + 2 H2O + 4 C2H5OH

HO Si

O Si O

O O O

Si O OH Si

OR RO Si OR
+ OR + H2O/ H / OH O HO HO Si O HO Si O O

Si O O O O O O HO Si Si Si OH O OH O HO Si OH Si

Mild synthetic conditions

Combination of inorganic domains with organic or bioactive molecules

Strategies to design functional hybrids

General strategies for the design of functional hybrids

Path A : Corresponds to very convenient
soft chemistry based routes

Route A1: In route A1 organically

modified alkoxides with or without simple metal alkoxides via sol- gel reaction i.e hydrolysis and condensation reaction of alkoxide gives amorphous hybrid network

Route A2: The use of bridged precursors

such as silsesquioxanes X3SiRSiX3 (R is an organic spacer, X = Cl, Br, OR) allow the formation of homogeneous molecular hybrid organicinorganic materials which have a better degree of local organisation

Route A3: corresponds to hydrothermal

synthesis of Metal organic framework also known as coordination polymers

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Path B corresponds to the use of well

defined nanobuilding blocks. These NBB can be clusters, pre or post functionalised nanoparticles of metallic oxides , metals etc or nanoclays

Route B1 is the dispersion or assembling

of NBB using organic connector to form NBB based nanocomposites

Route B2 involves the intercalation of

nanoclay with polymer and by exfoliation delaminated hybrid nanocomposites are obtained.

Path C: Self assembling procedures Self assembly is a process in which a disordered system of pre existing components forms an organized structure due to local interaction between components itself without external direction Route C1: is the synthetic route for preparation of organic inorganic hybrid mesoporous materials by the sol- gel reaction of organically modified metal alkoxide templated by organic surfactant. The organic group can have different functions.

Route C2:Templated growth (with surfactants)

of mesoporous hybrids by using bridged silsesquioxanes as precursors

Route C3:Combination of self-assembly and

NBB approaches This combination between the nanobuilding block approach and templated assembling is known as synthesis with construction

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Path D Integrative synthesis strategies reported (a, b and c ) mainly offer the controlled design and assembling of hybrid materials in the 1 A to 500 A range. micro-molding methods have been developed, in which the use of controlled phase separation phenomena, emulsion droplets, latex beads leads to controlling the shapes of complex objects in the micron scale

Applications of hybrids
(i) Photochromic materials designed from spyrooxazines embedded in hybrid matrices give very fast optical responses depending on the tuning of dye matrix interaction

(ii)

Hybrid materials built from organically modified silicas and NLO chromophores exhibits very high second order optical non-linearity

Hybrid organicinorganic materials containing organic chromophores

(iii) UV-pearls :encapsulating the active organic UV filters in silica micro-capsules

the contact of these potent chemicals with the skin is reduced, and damage from free radicals is prevented.

(iv) Entrapment of enzymes in sol- gel matrices :glucose oxidase (GOD), catalyze the oxidation of glucose by molecular oxygen, applications in clinical analysis for the diagnosis of diabetes and in the food industry

(v) Hybrid materials for protective coating scratch resistant coating

Example of protective hybrid coating: plate half coated with ABRASIL

(vi) decorative coatings Example of hybrid coating with decorative interest: glass ware demonstrating the high quality optical appearance of crystal glass and other types of glasses coated with dye coloured hybrid coatings

(vii) Dental applications

Matrix materials
Composites Glass ionomer cements Bondings

Other applications

Structural Materials Catalysts Electronics Magnetic materials Biomedical materials