On Set and Control of Cellular Patterns in Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Film

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Organic-inorganic film of several micrometers in thickness has been investigated. The films fabricated by dipping technique showed the remarkable cellular patterns, when such reagents as Ti, Zr alkoxides and silane coupling agent having amino groups (aminopropyltrimethoxysilane : APTS) were involved in the starting sol.In this investigation, to make clear the condition of on set of the cellular patterns, optical properties of the sol, observation of the film surfaces by laser microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been carries out. The results were summarized as follows,(1) Moisture in the atmosphere is inevitable for the onset of the cellular patterns.(2) Along with the hydration-polymerization reaction, nanometer-sized particles were formed in the starting sol and they were grown with increasing the reaction time.(3) The 3-D image of the cell was obtained by the AFM observation. The cell was composed of the valley center surrounded by the mountain- like wall of few nanometer 〜hundred of nanometer. There were the relations between their clearness and the depth.(4) The formation mechanism of the cell in the hybrid film is : the first step is nanometer-sized particles (TiO_2, ZrO_2 or SiO_2 nanoparticles) generation in the starting sol, the second step is the flow of these nanoparticles by the Marangoni convection.