Formulation

Abstract

A method for preparing a composite comprising at least the following steps (a) to (c): (a) providing a formulation onto a surface of a substrate by a wet deposition process to obtain a partly or fully dried formulation;(b) applying a post bake to the formulation provided on the surface of the substrate to obtain a 1st composite; and(c) applying a post-treatment to the 1st composite to obtain a final composite or applying a post-treatment to the partly or fully dried formulation obtained in step (a).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for preparing a composite comprising at least the following steps (a) to (c):
 (a) providing a formulation onto a surface of a substrate by a wet deposition process to obtain a partly or fully dried formulation;   (b) applying a post bake to the formulation provided on the surface of the substrate to obtain a 1 st  composite; and   (c) applying a post-treatment to the 1 st  composite to obtain a final composite or applying a post-treatment to the partly or fully dried formulation obtained in step (a);
 wherein said formulation provided in step (a) includes at least one material selected from the group consisting of metal sulfates, metal phosphates, metal oxy sulfates, metal oxy phosphates, metal oxy chlorides, hydrated metal sulfates, hydrated metal phosphates, hydrated metal oxy sulfates, hydrated metal oxy phosphates and hydrated metal oxy chlorides; and further includes a solvent or a solvent blend; 
 wherein said post-treatment is a post-treatment with a solvent, a heat treatment or a combination of the post-treatment with a solvent and the heat treatment. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metal of the material is a group  4  element of the periodic table. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the material is selected the group consisting of zirconium phosphate, titanyl sulfate (titanium oxysulfate), titanium oxychloride, titanium oxy fluoride, zirconium oxysulfate, zirconium oxychloride, zirconium oxy fluoride and hydrates of any one of such materials. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the formulation in step (a) includes a solvent blend containing at least water, alcohol and at least one selected from cyclohexanone and ethyl methyl sulfone. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the post-treatment with a solvent includes at least the following step (Cs1):
 (Cs1) applying the solvent to the 1 st  composite or dipping the 1 st  composite with or without the substrate in the solvent.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the step (Cs1) includes applying the solvent to the 1 st  composite by spin-coating or ink-jetting. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the post-treatment with a solvent further includes the following step (Cs2):
 (Cs2) removing the solvent by spin-drying, air blow, hot-air drying, infrared drying, or hot-plate drying.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the solvent used for the post-treatment in step (c) is selected from one or more members of the group consisting of water, alcohols, esters, carboxylic acids and ammonium hydroxide. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the heat treatment includes the following step (Ch1):
 (Ch1) baking the 1 st  composite at a temperature in the range from 150 to 600° C. for a time in the range from 30 sec to 1 h.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step (b) is performed after step (a) and step (c) is performed after step (b). 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step (b) is performed after step (a) and step (c) is performed before step (b) after step (a), and the post-treatment of step (c) is a post-treatment with a solvent. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein a solvent in the formulation of step (a) is removed before step (c) by baking, vacuum draying or air drying. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a patterned substrate comprising topographical features on the surface thereof. 
     
     
         14 . A layered composite obtained by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         15 . The layered composite of  claim 11 , comprising at least a metal oxy sulfate, and a metal oxide derived from metal oxy sulfate. 
     
     
         16 . An optical device comprising the layered composite of  claim 14  and a patterned substrate comprising topographical features on the surface thereof. 
     
     
         17 . The optical device of  claim 16 , wherein the topographical features include a gap that is filled with the composite. 
     
     
         18 . A display device comprising at least one functional medium configured to modulate a light or configured to emit light; and the layered composite of  claim 14 .