Controllable Synthesis of Hexagonal Hollow Silica Plate Particles and their Low Refractive Index in Polymer Nanocomposite Films

摘要

Hollow silica particles have attracted tremendous interests in recent years due to their remarkable properties and great potential for widespread applications,but the precise design and control of their structure remains a significant challenge.In this work,hexagonal hollow silica plate(HHSP)particles were successfully synthesized through a sol-gel method by utilizing the reaction condition at room temperature,using tetraethyl orthosilicate(TEOS)as a silica precursor and zinc oxide(ZnO)particles as a colloid template.The structure and morphology of HHSP particles were controlled by examining samples taken at different reaction time and the thickness of silica shell can be adjusted by varying the TEOS/ZnO molar ratios.Furthermore,the polymer/HHSP composite thin films were prepared using poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)matrix and surface modified HHSP particles by grafting silane coupling agents.The composite films exhibited high visible and UV light transmittance over than 95%.In addition,the HHSP particles having a refractive index as low as 1.28 were obtained,which may result in a new generation of film materials.