Preparation of silica-based hybrid materials by gamma irradiation

Gamma-ray irradiation is well known to promote the crosslinking of polymer chains. The method is now used by the authors to prepare hybrid materials from a mixture of polymer and metallic alkoxides of silicium and zirconium that are usually obtained via the sol-gel process. Macroscopically homogeneous and transparent hybrid materials have been obtained by γ-irradiation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and zirconium propoxide (PrZr). The influence of several parameters has been studied. The dose rate was found to have no significant impact in the prepared material. The polymer molecular weight was also observed not to play any special role. It was found that all irradiated samples consist of a polymer gel matrix. In the case where both alkoxides are present there are inorganic oxide regions linked to the PDMS network. However when one of the alkoxides is absent there is no formation of inorganic oxide regions linked to the polymer matrix, there being only a few individual derived molecules of the other alkoxide linked to the polymer.