Preparation of Silica Sols and Anti-Reflective Films with Electrostatic Self-Assembly Multilayer Method

Silica sols were prepared by hydrolysis of Si（OC2H5）4（TEOS）using HCl，NH3·H2O，HCl/NH3·H2O as catalyzers，and the different granularities of SiO2 sols which catalyzed by HCl first and then NH3·H2O have the same terminal pH value were prepared. The silica colloidal particles were investigated with Transmission Electron Microscope（TEM）. The results showed sol catalyzed by HCl possesses very little particle，catalyzed by NH3·H2O has particle configuration，catalyzed by HCl/NH3·H2O possesses consecutive configuration. Poly（diallyldimethylammonium chloride）（PDDA）and SiO2 nanoparticulate complex thin films were prepared by electrostatic self-assembly multiplayer（ESAM）method. After assembling films，thin films surface conformation was observed with Electron Microscope and their transmittance was tested with 721 Spectrophotometer. The results showed that the silica sol catalyzed with HCl is not good for the fabrication of ESAM films and the silica sol catalyzed with HCl first and then NH3·H2O or by NH3·H2O only are very suitable for ESAM film fabrication. TEM data indicate that the microstructure of PDDA/ SiO2 prepared from silica sol catalyzed with HCl first and then NH3·H2O is consecutive and that the microstructure of PDDA/ SiO2 prepared from silica sol catalyzed by NH3·H2O only is particulate-parking like. The dependence of the transmittance of assembled films on the bilayer number of the films and the anti-scratching properties of the films were investigated. The results show that PDDA/ SiO2 films prepared from silica sol catalyzed by NH3·H2O only possess higher transmittance but lower anti-scratching properties. The effect of granularity of sols on optical performances of the thin films was studied，results showed the less the granularity of sol，the better the optical performances. For the sake of improving the light transmittance of films，we can reduce the granularity of sol，but it may play down its mechanical damage resist intensity.