C60Based Hybrid Nanocomposites Obtained in the Presence of Ultrasounds

Since their discovery, fullerenes in general and buckminsterfullerene C60 in particular, became a subject of great interest for studies. Being compatible with the sol–gel process, one of the promising approaches is to incorporate the fullerene molecules in sol–gel oxide matrices. Great part of studies deals with SiO2 sol–gel oxide as the optimal matrix for entrapment of organic molecules. C60-doped silica matrices used through our present study have been prepared by sol–gel processing, using different alkoxide precursors, as a silicon oxide source: tetraethoxysilane (a), methyltriethoxysilane (b), phenyltriethoxysilane (c) and a mixture of phenyltriethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane (d). C60-to-Si molar ratio was chosen to be 1.0 × 10−3:1 for all materials synthesized, final oxide composition remaining unchanged in all cases. The effect of ultrasounds on the gelation process was established by preparing two series of samples, either via sonication or in the absence of ultrasound processing. The properties of the resulted materials were also established. The prepared samples were characterized by XRD, IR, RPE and UV-VIS spectrometry. All methods have put in evidence the embedment of the fullerene into the silica matrix.