Sol--Gel--Optics encompasses numerous schemes for fabricating optical materials from gels -- materials such as bulk optics, optical waveguides, doped oxides for laser and nonlinear optics, gradient refractive index (GRIN) optics, chemical sensors, environmental sensors, and `smart' windows. Sol--Gel--Optics: Processing and Applications provides in-depth coverage of the synthesis and fabrication of these materials and discusses the optics related to microporous, amorphous, crystalline and composite materials. The reader will also find in this book detailed descriptions of new developments in silica optics, bulk optics, waveguides and thin films. Various applications to sensor and device technology are highlighted. For researchers and students looking for novel optical materials, processing methods or device ideas, Sol--Gel--Optics: Processing and Applications surveys a wide array of promising new avenues for further investigation and for innovative applications. (This book is the first in a new subseries entitled `Electronic Materials: Science and Technology).
Sol-gel processing is a low temperature, low cost wet chemistry route to a range of different materials, particularly glassy and ceramic oxides, including nanoparticles and powders, fibers, thin films and membranes, or monoliths and composites. Thin films and coatings represent by far the most important category of sol-gel derived products with optical, electronic and magnetic functionalities, for example photoresist and dielectric spin-on-glass layers, flat screen displays, anti-reflection, conducting and magnetic disk coatings, as well as photochromic, electrochromic and photovoltaic coatings. Sol-gel derived materials are homogeneous at the molecular level and are a good example of a bottom-up approach to materials synthesis. There is increasing need of new optical and photonic materials with improved performance, where molecular level homogeneity and easy fabrication in film form may be especially convenient, highlighting a decisive advantage of sol-gel over other more established technologies to obtain graded index optical components, solar control coatings, phosphors, glass ceramics or multilayer photonic structures. There is no book available yet which focuses in particular on optical and photonic sol-gel derived materials. This is what makes this book unique at this point for those especially or exclusively interested in optical and photonic functional materials and applications. This book represents an important tool to update scientists and engineers with recent advances in the rapidly evolving field of optical and photonic materials, components and devices. Our target audience are those working in materials science, physics, engineering and chemistry disciplines, in particular academics and researchers working in advanced optical/photonic processing technologies, research and development engineers in high technology industries and research project leaders. This book will also be an essential tool for graduate students pursuing a PhD or even a Master's degree. Reviews wide range of sol-gel derived coatings including reflective and anti-reflective, self-cleaning, and electrochromic Discusses latest advances in sol-gel derived photonic crystals including one dimensional, two dimensional, and three dimensional structures Addresses key applications in solid state lighting, solar cells, sensors, fiber optics, and magneto-optical devices
Sol-Gel Techniques for Glass Producers and Users provides technological information, descriptions and characterizations of prototypes, or products already on the market, and illustrates advantages and disadvantages of the sol-gel process in comparison to other methods. The first chapter entitled "Wet Chemical Technology" gives a summary of the basic principles of the sol-gel chemistry. The most promising applications are related to coatings. Chapter 2 describes the various "Wet Chemical Coating Technologies" from glass cleaning to many deposition and post-coating treatment techniques. These include patterning of coatings through direct or indirect techniques which have became very important and for which the sol-gel processing is particularly well adapted. Chapter 3 entitled "Bulk Glass Technologies" reports on the preparation of special glasses for different applications. Chapter 4 entitled "Coatings and Materials Properties" describes the properties of the different coatings and the sol-gel materials, fibers and powders. The chapter also includes a section dedicated to the characterization techniques especially applied to sol-gel coatings and products.
Sol-Gel Science: The Physics and Chemistry of Sol-Gel Processing presents the physical and chemical principles of the sol-gel process. The book emphasizes the science behind sol-gel processing with a chapter devoted to applications. The first chapter introduces basic terminology, provides a brief historical sketch, and identifies some excellent texts for background reading. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the mechanisms of hydrolysis and condensation for nonsilicate and silicate systems. Chapter 4 deals with stabilization and gelation of sols. Chapter 5 reviews theories of gelation and examines the predicted and observed changes in the properties of a sol in the vicinity of the gel point. Chapter 6 describes the changes in structure and properties that occur during aging of a gel in its pore liquor (or some other liquid). The discussion of drying is divided into two parts, with the theory concentrated in Chapter 7 and the phenomenology in Chapter 8. The structure of dried gels is explored in Chapter 9. Chapter 10 shows the possibility of using the gel as a substrate for chemical reactions or of modifying the bulk composition of the resulting ceramic by performing a surface reaction (such as nitridation) on the gel. Chapter 11 reviews the theory and practice of sintering, describing the mechanisms that govern densification of amorphous and crystalline materials, and showing the advantages of avoiding crystallization before sintering is complete. The properties of gel-derived and conventional ceramics are discussed in Chapter 12. The preparation of films is such an important aspect of sol-gel technology that the fundamentals of film formation are treated at length in Chapter 13. Films and other applications are briefly reviewed in Chapter 14. Materials scientists and researchers in the field of sol-gel processing will find the book invaluable.
This comprehensive three-volume handbook brings together a review of the current state together with the latest developments in sol-gel technology to put forward new ideas. The first volume, dedicated to synthesis and shaping, gives an in-depth overview of the wet-chemical processes that constitute the core of the sol-gel method and presents the various pathways for the successful synthesis of inorganic and hybrid organic-inorganic materials, bio- and bio-inspired materials, powders, particles and fibers as well as sol-gel derived thin films, coatings and surfaces. The second volume deals with the mechanical, optical, electrical and magnetic properties of sol-gel derived materials and the methods for their characterization such as diffraction methods and nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared and Raman spectroscopies. The third volume concentrates on the various applications in the fields of membrane science, catalysis, energy research, biomaterials science, biomedicine, photonics and electronics.
This book presents a broad, general introduction to the processing of Sol-Gel technologies. This updated volume serves as a general handbook for researchers and students entering the field. This new edition provides updates in fields that have undergone rapid developments, such as Ceramics, Catalysis, Chromatropgraphy, biomaterials, glass science, and optics. It provides a simple, compact resource that can also be used in graduate-level materials science courses.
This completely updated and expanded second edition stands as a comprehensive knowledgebase on both the fundamentals and applications of this important materials processing method. The diverse, international team of contributing authors of this reference clarify in extensive detail properties and applications of sol-gel science and technology as it pertains to the production of substances, active and non-active, including optical, electronic, chemical, sensor, bio- and structural materials. Essential to a wide range of manufacturing industries, the compilation divides into the three complementary sections: Sol-Gel Processing, devoted to general aspects of processing and recently developed materials such as organic-inorganic hybrids, photonic crystals, ferroelectric coatings, and photocatalysts; Characterization of Sol-Gel Materials and Products, presenting contributions that highlight the notion that useful materials are only produced when characterization is tied to processing, such as determination of structure by NMR, in-situ characterization of the sol-gel reaction process, determination of microstructure of oxide gels, characterization of porous structure of gels by the surface measurements, and characterization of organic-inorganic hybrid; and Applications of Sol-Gel Technology, covering applications such as the sol-gel method used in processing of bulk silica glasses, bulk porous gels prepared by sol-gel method, application of sol-gel method to fabrication of glass and ceramic fibers, reflective and antireflective coating films, application of sol-gel method to formation of photocatalytic coating films, and application of sol-gel method to bioactive coating films. The comprehensive scope and integrated treatment of topics make this reference volume ideal for R&D scientists and engineers across a wide range of disciplines and professional interests.
