Photoinitiated polymerization: advances, challenges, and opportunities

ABSTRACT: The use of photoinitiated polymerization is continuously growing in industry as reflected by the large number of applications in not only conventional areas such as coatings, inks, and adhesives but also high-tech domains, optoelectronics, laser imaging, stereolithography, and nanotechnology. In this Perspec-tive, the latest developments in photoinitiating systems for free radical and cationic polymerizations are presented. The potential use of photochemical methods for step-growth polymerization is also highlighted. The goal is, furthermore, to show approaches to overcome problems associated with the efficiency, wave-length flexibility, and environmental and safety issues in all photoinitiating systems for different modes of activation. Much progress has been made in the past 10 years in the preparation of complex and nano-structured macromolecules by using photoinitiated polymerizations. Thus, the new and emerging applica-tions of photoinitiated polymerizations in the field of biomaterials, surface modification, preparation of block and graft copolymers, and nanocomposites have been addressed