Synthesis and Characterization of Polyimide/silica Nanocomposite Films

In the paper, a kind of polyimide nanocomposite films was made by synthesizing polyimide/silica nano-particle matrix resin through the hydrolysis and poly-condensation of varies ratio of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and dimethyldiethoxysilane (DMES) in the solution of polyamic acid (PAA) solution dissolved in N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), followed by rotating it on glass substrates and heating at high temperature. The 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APrTEOS), which serves as a coupling agent, was chosen to enhance the compatibility between the polyimide (PI) and the silica (SiO2). The chemical structure of the films was characterized by FT-IR. The results of TGA proved that the thermal stability can be improved by well dispersion of inorganic components not more than 16wt%.