Optical functional hybrid gel glass is a new type of device material with wide potential application. It integrates the characteristics and advantages of gel glasses and optical functional materials, has excellent optical, electrical and chemical properties, and has been widely used in energy, optoelectronics, sensors and other fields. It has become very appropriate device materials in the field of optics and other fields. It is mainly composed of transparent hybrid material glass and optical functional hybrid gel glass, with high refractive index and low scattering, mechanical strength and heat resistance, withstand high temperature and extreme environment, not easy to produce deformation or rupture. Researchers continue to explore and innovate by changing the composition, structure and preparation process of materials. By precisely controlling the microstructure and the distribution of functional substances of the hybrid gel glasses, the performance of optics, electricity and thermology can be effectively regulated.
This paper reviews a variety of optical functional hybrid glass devices supported by glass matrices, especially the latest research progress of hybrid gel glass devices supported by gel glass matrices, and mainly systematically introduces two types of glass devices: nonlinear optical laser protection/modulation and luminescence/conversion hybrid glass devices. The most common preparation methods for optical functional hybrid glass devices include in-situ growth, surface coating and direct doping, etc. These methods have their advantages and disadvantages. At present, the combination of glass matrices with a variety of nanomaterials/structures is limited to in-situ growth and surface coating, and it is difficult to achieve high concentration uniform doping of different kinds of functional materials. As far as the glass itself is concerned, inorganic glass has very high physicochemical and thermal stability and excellent optical properties, but the traditional melting method requires high temperature processing, and organic and carbon materials are very easy to oxidize at high temperatures. If we use organic glasses with good compatibility with organic optical materials and no dissolution problems as a matrix, the advantages and disadvantages are very obvious: organic glasses have greater flexibility and impact strength than inorganic glass, and polymerization can be carried out under neutral reaction conditions. However, the lower heat resistance of organic glasses could not be used in high temperatures and extreme environments. The gel glass prepared by the sol-gel method has the characteristics of low temperature preparation, good uniformity and simple process, which makes the high concentration and uniform doping composite possible at room temperature and pressure. This technique has been widely used in the doping of organic functional molecules in inorganic substrates, so that the original optical properties can be maintained or many new optical properties appear.
Despite the use of various methods, such as coating, intermolecular physical interaction enhancement (hydrogen bond, ionic bond, π conjugation, electrostatic force, etc.), doping concentration of conjugated organic polymers and functional nanomaterials in transparent substrates, such as gel glasses, is still limited to 1% (mass fraction), usually less than 0.1%. In order to achieve better optical performance, it is necessary to achieve high concentration and uniform doping of various optical functional materials in the transparent matrix. The researchers used silane-functionalized nanomaterials to establish a series of arbitrary concentrations of liquid systems and copolymerized hybrid solid material systems, which can form a variety of solid macroscopic structures: xerogel glasses, monoliths, films, powders, fibers, coatings (glass, plastic, ceramic, metal and other substrates), to achieve the nanomaterials and covalent bond chemical connection, molecular level dispersion and 0–100% arbitrary concentration doping in solid matrix, without any agglomeration and phase separation. This transparent glass is very easy to cut and polish into different shapes and sizes for device design. Through the change of doping concentration and types, it is very convenient to realize the control of optical, mechanics and thermal properties in liquid and solid states, and realize the device and practical application of optical nanomaterials. It is expected to establish a general technical platform for the preparation of nanocomposites and hybrid materials.
Summary and prospects Combined with the current research progress, this review looks forward to the problems and challenges that may be faced in the future development of optical functional hybrid gel glasses. The research of optical functional hybrid gel glass devices mainly focuses on exploring and developing new properties and applications of materials. By changing the composition, structure and preparation process of materials, the microstructure and distribution of functional substances of hybrid gel glass can be accurately controlled, and the performance of optical, electricity and heat can be effectively regulated. Despite the breakthrough progress, the research of optical functional hybrid gel glass devices is faced with the problems and challenges in preparation process, performance optimization and market demand. With the increasing demand for new materials and new technologies, by solving these problems, we are expected to promote the development of optical functional hybrid gel glass devices and realize their application and commercialization in various fields, optical functional hybrid gel glass devices will certainly play an important role in the fields of optics, electronics and other fields. This review will hopefully provide some insights into the design and synthesis, performance optimization, as well as device application of optical functional hybrid materials and glass devices, and further promote the development of optical functional hybrid gel glass devices.