Tuning the properties of nanostructured inorganic-organic hybrid polymers obtained from metal oxide clusters as building blocks

Transition metal oxide clusters with unsaturated carboxylate ligands bonded to their surface were polymerized in the presence of organic co-monomers by various polymerization techniques to form cluster-reinforced polymers. The properties of the cluster-crosslinked hybrid polymers are distinctly different from those of the parent polymers and are influenced by: (i) the cluster proportion, (ii) the kind of cluster, (iii) the ratio of functional and non-functional capping ligands, and (iv) the polymerization conditions. The variation of these parameters allows to modify the material properties of the hybrid materials, such as swelling behavior, thermal stability, etc., and introduce cluster-specific properties into the polymers. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.