Homogeneous organic–inorganic hybrid materials with high performance were successfully prepared by mixing (3-methacryloxypropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPMS) capped acrylic resin with titania synthesized by sol-gel approaches. The effects of the titania content, the amount of water and nature of catalysts in the sol-gel as well as the ratios of mixed solvents of butyl acetate and ethanol on the structures and properties of the hybrid materials were studied. Higher titania content, larger amount of water and base catalysis in the sol-gel process, as well as the solvent with higher ratio of butyl acetate to ethanol for the hybrids caused larger size and less open structure of titania phase. The hardness, elastic modulus, thermal stability and refractive index for the hybrid materials improved dramatically with increasing titania content. In general, better prosperities, especially mechanical properties, were achieved for the hybrid prepared under lower water content, pH values (such as acid catalysis) and mB/mE ratio.

Nanosilica particles with different surface properties were designed and prepared using colloidal silica particles and four different qualitative silane coupling agents (SCA), namely methyltriethoxysilane (MTES), octyltriethoxysilane (OTES), vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) and methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MATMS), and further applied in acrylic resins and corresponding polyurethane coats by in situ polymerization. It was found that different qualitative SCA molecules had very different impacts on the redispersibility of nanosilica particles, the adsorbed acrylic polyol molecules, the viscosities of acrylic polyol/silica hybrid resins, and the properties of acrylic-based polyurethane/silica composites.

In this paper, an organic pigment was coated with nano-silica particles via layer-by-layer self-assembly technique and some properties were investigated. The results revealed that the coating of nano-silica on the surfaces of pigments could improve the thermal stability, wettability, acid and alkali resistance, and weatherability of the organic pigment.

A series of silica particles with different size and surface groups were prepared through the sol–gel process of tetraethylorthosilicate, then directly introduced into polyester polyol resins via in situ (IS) polymerization or blending (BL) method and investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), viscosity measurement, particle size analyzer and transmittance electron microscope (TEM), respectively. The results showed that polyester segments were chemically bonded onto silica particles for both IS and BL methods, but more polyester segments chemically bonded onto the surfaces of silica particles during IS polymerization than those during BL process, resulting in lower viscosity of nanocomposite resins from IS polymerization than their corresponding resins from BL method. TEM indicated that silica particles could be dispersed into polymer resins during IS polymerization while causing obvious aggregation during BL method.