Phase Separation in Silica Sol–Gel System Containing Poly(ethylene oxide) II. Effects of Molecular Weight and Temperature

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Abstract
Phase separation and gelation behaviors have been studied for acid-catalyzed, alkoxide-based silica systems containing poly(ethylene oxide), PEO. In order to clarify the role of PEO in a phase-separating sol–gel system, the effects of the molecular weight of PEO and the reaction temperature were investigated in detail. The PEO concentration of the highest phase-separation tendency slightly increased along with a decrease in the molecular weight, suggesting that the phase-separation behavior is mainly governed by an interaction between PEO and the solvent mixture. The reaction temperature affected the morphology-composition relationship mainly by its effect on the sol–gel transition kinetics.