High-performance sunlight induced polymerization using novel push-pull dyes with high light absorption properties

Abstract

In this article, a series of three-component photoinitiating systems (PISs) based on push–pull dyes are proposed. The systems are composed of the newly synthesized push-pull dyes and different co-initiators, namely an iodonium salt and a tertiary amine (ethyl dimethylaminobenzoate EDB). Photoinitiation abilities and photochemical properties of the different investigated photoinitiating systems were studied in detail. Notably, the mechanisms related to the polymerization efficiencies were determined using different techniques such as UV–visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Moreover, the photoinitiation abilities of the three-component systems for the sunlight-induced polymerization processes were also examined, indicating that sunlight can act as an effective light source for photopolymerization. Finally, 3D patterns with a spatial resolution were successfully produced by the direct laser writing (DLW) approach, even with photosensitive resins containing silica fillers.