Photochromic organic-inorganic composite materials prepared by sol-gel processing : properties and potentials

The sol-gel method which features a low-temperature wet-chemical process opens vast possibilities to incorporating organic dyes into solid matrices for various optical applications. In this paper we present our experimental results on the sol-gel derived photochromic organic-inorganic composite (ORMOCER) materials follwoing an introductory description of the sol-gel process and a brief review on the state of the art of the photochromic solids prepared using this method. Our photochromic spirooxazine-Ormocer gels and coatings possess better photochromic response and colour-change speed than the corresponding photochromic polymer coatings and similar photochemical stability to the latter. Further developments are proposed as to tackle the temperature dependence problem and further tap the potentialities of the photochromic dye-Ormocer material for practical applications.