Organic azobenzene dyes such as Methyl Red, Sodium Salt (MR) and Brilliant Yellow have unique electron accepting and donating properties due to their conjugated pi systems.  When placed these in an inorganic matrix using a silicon spacer such as (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES), the organic compound forms an ionic bond which allows for electron transference. This can be used to investigate the possibility of 3-dimensional data storage. Using thin films, we are able to attach the ionic compound to a silicon base for later characterization. Our final product is mainly characterized via IR-spectra. We are further investigating the structure using 1HNMR and UV-vis. Our primary focus is to study the effects of differing molar ratios between the dye and APTES.

Characterization of ionic sol-gel based hybrid materials

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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