Sol-Gel Preparation of Organic Colorant-Doped Thin Glass Film and Its Lightfastness

Abstract

A colored thin glass layer (0. 1-0. 2 μm thick) was formed on a glass surface by the dippingwithdrawing coating method : A glass plate was immersed in colored coating solutions, which consisted of tetraethoxysilane or methyltriethoxysilane, ethanol, water, and cationic organic dyes in the presence of acid, and withdrawn at 1 mm/s. Cationic dyes, such as triphenylmethane dyes, phenoxazine dye, and phenothiazine dye, can be soluble uniformly by such the silica sol processing conditions. The effects of nickel complexes and matrix gels on the photofading of the colored thin glass films by the irradiation of filtered visible light (>390 nm) using 500 W Xe lamp were studied. It was found that bis (o, o'-diethylphosphorodithiolato) nickel was the most effective in inhibiting the photofading of the thin glass film colored with cationic dyes.