Abstract
Conventional sol-gels are rather hydrophilic. A more hydrophobic material is obtained by preparing organically modified siloxanes (ormosils). We have used three different solvatochromic dyes, (1) ET-33, the best solvatochromic probe known so far, (2) Nile red (NR), and (3) a ketocyanine (KC) dye, all with unique solvatochromic properties in both absorption and fluorescence, to probe the micro-polarity of sol-gels. Because ET-33 has a very low molar absorbance and is not fluorescent at all, and KC was hardly soluble in the sol- gel solution, NR was preferably used. NR is an excellent probe and sensitive to the polarity of its microenvironment. Spectroscopic studies reveal remarkable changes in the absorption band positions as a function of the polarity of the sol-gel which depends on the different precursors used. Furthermore, aging time and temporal stability as a function of different ormosils have been investigated.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
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