Structure and optical properties of hybrid glasses based on tetraethylorthosilicate-trimethoxyoctylsilane and tetraethylorthosilicate-tetraethylorthotitanate-trimethoxyoctylsilane systems

Hybrid glasses based on tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS)-trimethoxyoctylsilane (TMOS) and TEOS-tetraethylorthotitanate (TEOT)-trimethoxyoctylsilane systems were prepared by sol-gel technique. Structure of the hybrids was studied by FTIR and XPS spectroscopy. The studies reveal that the titanium is mainly in tetrahedral coordination substituting for silica and acting as a glass former. Some part of titanium is also present in octahedral coordination. Optical properties of hybrid glasses in the visible range strongly depend on amount of organic modifier and higher transparency is observed for glasses having higher content of TMOS.