New Transparent Polymer Nanocomposite Coatings Using Multireactive Inorganic Cages

提出了一种新型聚合物纳米复合涂层，具有较强的耐磨性、韧性和光学功能，适用于光学塑料基底的涂层。这些复合材料包含无机笼，分散和化学偶联在交联有机基质内。除了良好的机械性能外，高价值的性能，如暴露在光线下的着色性和抵抗高能激光的损伤，将通过附着在具有光学活性的化学单元的笼上来实现。这些笼是纳米尺寸的，项目的一个重要方面包括在分子水平上探测合成结构，使用先进的表征技术。

New polymeric nanocomposite coatings are proposed with enhanced abrasion resistance, toughness and optical functionality, suitable for the coating of optical plastic substrates. These composites contain inorganic cages, dispersed and chemically-coupled within the crosslinked organic matrix. In addition to good mechanical behaviour, high value properties such as colorisation on exposure to light and resistance to damage from high energy lasers will be achieved by attachment to the cages of chemical units with optical activity. These cages are of nanometre size and an important aspect of the project involves probing the resultant structure at the molecular level, using advanced characterisation techniques.