Inorganic and Hybrid Sol-Gel Films with Optical Properties
Maria Zaharescu, Maria Crisan, Luminita Predoana, Mariuca Gartner, A. Jitianu, Dana Cristea, Stefania Degeratu and Elena Manea
The sol-gel process may be considered a method for producing glass and ceramic materials from metallorganic precursors by low temperature polymerization reactions. The process represents a powerful tool for making almost all kinds of transparent materials with interesting optical and electrical properties. Besides pure oxide films, sol-gel inorganicorganic hybrid materials can offer multifunctionality and allow properties tailoring from subnanometer (atomic) to submilimeter (mesoscopic) length scales.
The organic groups can modify the inorganic backbone by reducing the connectivity of the gel network allowing thick film deposition and lessening the processing temperature. Some recent results obtained in the field of oxide and hybrid inorganic-organic sol-gel films, with special optical properties are presented.