The photoluminescence (PL) properties of Mn-doped zinc silicates were studied by combinatorial synthesis and characterization technique associated with various process parameters. The material libraries were prepared with composition spreading in Zn and Mn concentration. The PL emission was green or orange, and depended strongly on the stoichiometry of the zinc silicates and the annealing temperature. The orange emission was observed in Mn-doped zinc silicates annealed at 800°C, which attributed to the increase of crystal field in a highly non-stoichiometric α-Zn2SiO phase ((Zn+Mn)/Si <1).

This work successfully prepared an UV curable organic-inorganic hybrid material consisting of organic modified colloidal silica. Applications of UV curable organic-inorganic hybrid materials include abrasion resistant coatings, photo-patternable thin films and waveguides. Colloidal silica containing reactive functional groups were also prepared by reacting organic silane and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) using sol-gel process. In addition, the efficiency of grafting organic moiety onto silica nanoparticles was investigated by applying TGA and FTIR techniques. Experimental results indicated a strong interdependence between surface modification efficiency and solution pH. Acrylate-SiO2 hybrid formation could result in a shifting of thermal degradation temperature of organic component from about 200°C to near 400°C. In addition, the stability of organic modified colloidal silica in UV curable formula and the physical properties of resulting coatings were discussed. Furthermore, the morphology of organic modified colloidal silica was investigated by performing TEM and SEM studies‥