METHOD OF PREPARING A COMPOSITE MATERIAL COMPRISING A SILICA NETWORK AND CHAINS OF A POLYHYDROXY COMPOUND AND A LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY DEVICE HAVING A TOP COAT OF SUCH MATERIAL

摘要

A description is given of a method of preparing a composite material comprising a silica network and, interwoven therewith, chains of, for example, polyhydroxyalkyl acrylate, by first photopolymerising a tetraalkenyl orthosilicate with UV-light and subsequently converting it into the composite material by subjecting it to a sol-gel treatment. The material obtained is optically transparent. In addition, the material exhibits very little shrinkage so that it can be deposited on a substrate in relatively thick layers. The composite material is very suitable for a top coat (5) on a colour-filter layer (3) in a liquid crystal display device because, inter alia, it adheres well to the ITO layer (7).