Patent ID: 8262939

Claim:
A composite material comprising: surface treated metal or metal oxide nanoparticles selected from the group consisting of silicon, aluminum, tin, iron, zinc, magnesium, zirconium, cerium, lithium, silver, antimony and nickel having a sol-gel network structure and comprising a condensed alkoxysilane compound reacted with the metal or metal oxide nanoparticles, wherein the condensed alkoxysilane compound further includes a functional group that is capable of bonding with a vinyl polymer, and wherein said metal or metal oxide nanoparticles comprise about 75 to 99% by weight of said metal or metal oxide and about 1 to 25% by weight of said alkoxysilane compound; a vinyl polymer of one or more monomers selected from the group consisting of aromatic vinyl monomers, vinyl cyanide monomers, and acrylic monomers; wherein the functional group of the condensed alkoxysilane compound is bonded with the vinyl polymer and wherein the functional group of the polymerizable alkoxysilane compound comprises an acryloxy functional group or a methacryloxy functional group.