NIR organic dyes as innovative tools for reprocessing/recycling of plastics: Benefits of the photothermal activation in the near-infrared range

International audiencePhotoinduced thermal polymerization upon Near-InfraRed (NIR) light has been recently reported in the literature as an efficient tool for polymer synthesis. In these different studies, a component capable to convert a NIR light into heat (called hereafter heater) was used in combination with a thermal initiator, promoting the Free-Radical Polymerization (FRP) of acrylate monomer. In this work, a completely different approach was developed since polymeric materials containing a very low amount of a stimuli-responsive compound were prepared by using a benchmark UV photoinitiator. As the stimuli-responsive compound, a