Sol-Gel Kinetics for the Synthesis of Multi-Component Glass Materials

Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) FTIR has been used to follow sol-gel synthesis kinetics for tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), ethanol, and water solutions yielding pure silicate materials. Aluminosilicates have also been made using TEOS : ethanol : water solutions doped with AI(III). Effective rate constants have been fitted to a kinetic model suggested by the literature for pure silicate materials. This model has been extended to include the effect of AI(III) on the rate constants. The effects of solution pH, temperature, and varying TEOS/Ethanol mole ratios have been investigated. Reliable effective rate constants for metal doped sol-gel solutions will lead to better control of the morphological and chemical properties of multi-component glass materials.