Adaptação de forno micro-ondas doméstico para preparação de poliedros oligoméricos silsesquioxanos - POSS

Abstract

Hybrid materials, such as polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS), nowadays have received special attention because they are materials that have a synergistic combination of organic and inorganic materials properties. Their preparation requires high time of synthesis and the use of dielectric heating appears promising. However, commercial reactors are expensive and the adaptation of domestic microwave ovens becomes an alternative. In this context, this work aims to adapt a domestic microwave oven for the synthesis of POSS, comparing materials obtained by microwave and conventional (oil bath) heating. The POSS was synthesized by the hydrolytic condensation of vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in different proportions. The synthesized samples were characterized by FTIR, 1H-NMR, TGA, GPC, SEM, TEM and XRD. The use of microwaves enable the manufacture of POSS with increased yield for VTES and VTES/TEOS systems, respectively with rates of 47 to 59 times higher than conventional synthesis. All samples showed intense FTIR bands at ~ 1090 and ~ 568 cm-1, both related to formation of silsesquioxane cages. It was not observed -O-CH2CH3 vibrations showing the hydrolysis reaction has been fully completed. The presence of OH deformations in the VTES/TEOS samples indicate the formation of non-fully condensed structures, confirmed by 1H NMR spectra, where it is observed the presence of non-condensing silanol. GPC analysis for the POSS VTES exhibited a major fraction (96.5%) of T8 structures via conventional, and (93.9%) via microwave synthesis. The addition of TEOS decreased the fraction of T8 structures, (78.0%) via dielectric and (33.0%) for conventional synthesis. TGA analysis of all samples showed a single stage of degradation, differences between VTES/TEOS samples are associated with the size of the POSS structure according to GPC analysis. SEM images showed the presence of spherical and cubic structures in all samples, and the addition of TEOS indicated a tendency to increase the size of these structures. TEM images for POSS VTES showed similar morphology to those observed by SEM. The presence of nanometric regular spherical agglomerates was observed in VTES/TEOS samples. The XRD for POSS VTES microwave, conventional and VTES/TEOS microwave synthesis, indicated the presence of rhombohedral lattice structure, typical POSS T8. The POSS VTES/TEOS conventional route showed a XRD pattern of an amorphous sample. The hybrid nanoparticles of POSS VTES, prepared via conventional and dielectric heating using reflux system, showed a very similar chemical properties as confirmed by the analytical techniques performed. However, the same comparison between the POSS obtained via mixing of VTES/TEOS, the same behavior is not observed. This is due to the VTES precursors be trifunctional and TEOS tetrafunctional, i.e. have different dipole moments, inducing randomly oriented irregular structures and different sizes, especially in the conventional heating where reaction is slower.