ABSTRACTIt is important to develop flexible transparent polymer films having high gas barrier properties and abrasion resistance because new applications involving transparent polymer films for flat panel displays require these properties. We report on organic-inorganic hybrid coatings of polyvinylalcohol (PVA)/polyacrylicacid (PAA)-silica, which have high gas barrier properties almost equivalent to those achieved by the dry coating process. The hybrid coatings were prepared by the sol-gel reaction of alkoxysilane in a PVA/PAA aqueous solution. In order to obtain transparent coating films, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMOS) was used as a compatibilizer in the sol-gel reaction of tetramethoxysilane (TMOS). No structure could be seen in the TEM of the cross-sectional coating layer, indicating that polymers and silica were mixed homogeneously. PVA/PAA-silica hybrid coatings were shown to have excellent abrasion resistance based on the ΔHaze index. O2 permeability of PVA/PAA-silica hybrid coatings evaluated by MOCON under the conditions of 23°C, 90% RH was lower than that of PVA/PAA polymer coating, which suggests that silica affects the barrier property of the hybrid coating in humid conditions. Furthermore, O2 permeability decreased as silica content increased in the coatings. Unexpectedly, high gas barrier properties appeared when the silica content exceeded 50 wt%. From the result of element distribution analysis measured by EF-TEM, it was confirmed that phase separation occurred between PVA/PAA and silica on a nanometer scale and silica forms continuous structures, which are considered to suppress O2 permeability.
Polymer-Inorganic Hybrid Coatings Having High Gas Barrier Properties
