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Revisiting aqueous alkaline silicates as precursors for sol‐gel optical coatings
Author(s) -
Jaffrès Anaël,
Boudot Mickaël,
Chevalier Sylvain,
Mohammedi Rabei,
Maron Sébastien,
Devys Lucie,
Gacoin Thierry
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.16279
Subject(s) - sol gel , silicate , aqueous solution , alkaline earth metal , materials science , chemical engineering , alkoxide , efflorescence , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , alkali metal , mineralogy , nanotechnology , catalysis , organic chemistry , engineering
Alkaline silicates are well‐known soluble silica derivatives already widely used for industrial purposes. Nevertheless, their applications for the elaboration of functional optical coatings have largely been discarded by the sol‐gel community who mainly focused on alkoxide precursors. The objective of this work is to reconsider the alkaline silicates sol‐gel chemistry, targeting optical coatings of a few hundreds of nanometers. The structures of Li + , Na + , and K + silicate coatings are discussed on the basis of spectroscopic characterizations. We show that a simple washing process allows a postdeposition removal of most alkaline ions, thus preventing the efflorescence effect and improving the aqueous stability of the films. Finally, several examples are shown for the application of alkaline silicates in the elaboration of functional optical coatings following conventional sol‐gel chemistry.