Multifunctional heteroleptic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (poss) and fabrication methods thereof

A method of fabricating a multifunctional heteroleptic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) in a single reaction vessel, comprising:

• adding a first organic solvent, water, base in a reaction vessel to create an alkaline environment for hydrolysis and condensation reactions;
• introducing a set of organosilanes in a dropwise manner at a controlled rate to prevent rapid gelation, wherein the total organosilane content accounts for 15-50% of the total solution, wherein the controlled rate is between 0.1-0.5 g per second to ensure uniform cage formation;
• subjecting the reaction vessel to a defined temperature and duration to initiate hydrolysis and condensation reactions, wherein the hydrolysis reaction converts alkoxy groups of the organosilanes to silanol groups, and the condensation reaction condenses the silanol groups to form siloxane bonds, resulting in POSS cage structures;
• and
• adjusting the reaction mixture to a pH value of 3-5 by adding an acid to quench the condensation reaction, stabilizing the POSS cage structures, and prevent POSS aggregation, thereby yielding a POSS crude product;
• wherein the set of organosilanes comprises glycidyltrimethoxysilane, cyclohexylepoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, acryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, octyltrimethoxysilane, phenyltrimethoxysilane, aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified silanes.