Abstract
Epoxy/titania hybrid materials with a high refractive index were prepared with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A, 3-mercaptopropyl-trimethoxysilane, and titanium-tetra-isopropoxide via a sol-gel process by using a multistep curing. The bond formation between organic and inorganic phases was performed using 3-mercaptopropyl- trimethoxysilane as a coupling agent. The hybrid materials were characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, TGA, CP-MAS29Si-NMR, TEM, UV-vis methods. The experimental results showed that the titania network was homogeneously dispersed in epoxy matrix. The refractive indices of the prepared hybrid materials were increased from 1.587 to 1.645 with an increase in the titania content. Excellent optical transparency for visible right was attained for the prepared hybrid materials.
