Percolation transition of siloxane domain in partially phenylated organic/inorganic hybrid glass

Evaluation of molecular volume of siloxane bonding and phenyl group in partially phenylated organic/inorganic hybrid glass

“…Therefore, the percolation threshold of phenyl group obtained by the Kusy's model indicates that phenyl groups percolate (contact) at the volume fraction of 64.4 vol.% and 65.7 vol.%. The significant difference between the obtained value and previous value (50 vol.% of the phenyl group) [1] is attributed to whether phenyl groups continuously aggregate by ''exact contact" or not. Since each phenyl group is directly covalently bonded to the central silicon atom, its spatial configuration is strongly topologically constrained.…”

“…This threshold was simply deduced from the size of the constituting parts of the hybrid glass. From our previous experimental works, partially phenylated glass undergoes the percolation transition (abrupt change in the measurable macroscopic properties) at approximately 50% of the volume fraction of the phenyl group [1]. The reason for obtaining above different percolation threshold values can be discussed as follows.…”

“…The hybrid glasses were prepared by the conventional sol-gel method [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]10]. The precursory sols of the hybrid glass were prepared from the mixture of phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) mixed at various compositions at the total molar number fixed at 2 Â 10 À2 .…”

“…Phenyl-modified glass offers prospects in the commercial field and will play an essential role in the preparation of colored glass, water repellent glass, monolithic glass, micropatternings, etc [5][6][7][8]. In the previous work, we discovered that such macroscopic properties of the hybrid glass as the dye retention capability, Vickers hardness and siloxane bonding length exhibit abrupt changes accompanied by the percolation of phenylated parts in the glass matrix [1]. As the significant effects of the percolation of the phenyl group indicate, the relative size of the phenyl group will be of great importance on the percolation threshold volume fraction.…”

“…Recently, a number of works related to the hybrid glass have been published [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Phenyl-modified glass offers prospects in the commercial field and will play an essential role in the preparation of colored glass, water repellent glass, monolithic glass, micropatternings, etc [5][6][7][8].…”