Hybrid organic-inorganic coatings based on thiol-ene systems

Hybrid organic-inorganic coatings based on thiol-ene systems were obtained by a UV-thermal dual-curing process. An improvement in mechanical properties and surface hardness was achieved because of the presence of the inorganic filler generated in situ via the sol-gel process. TEM analysis clearly evidenced the reduction of the nanosize dimensions of the inorganic silica domains by increasing the coupling agent content in the photocurable formulation.