Nanosilica-filled red, green, and blue color resists were prepared and their optical, thermal, and mechanical properties were examined. It was found that the International Commission on Illumination color coordinates of the formed resists varied with the concentration of silica in the resist. When the silica content was controlled within 15 phr, the color coordinates fell within the range for TFTLCD applications. Furthermore, the pencil hardness and the thermal decomposition temperature of the resists increased with increasing silica content, however, at the expense of optical transmittance and resolution. The optimized amount of silica was 10, 15, and 10 phr for red, green, and blue resists, respectively. At these dosages, the synthesized resists had high hardness of 4 H, good thermal stability, and optical performance that met industrial criteria. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 32: 163171, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/adv.20247