Decoupling Adhesion and Photon-Regulated Curing via Superamphiphobic and Quantum Dot-PDMS Dual Functional Coatings in Vat Photopolymerization

Unstable layer detachment and uncontrolled interfacial curing remain critical limitations in conventional bottom-up photopolymerization resin vats, where high-surface-energy release films promote strong resin-vat adhesion, and unrestricted photon flux at the resin-vat boundary leads to excessive bottom-layer cross-linking, together resulting in mechanical disturbance during separation and dimensional inaccuracy. To address these coupled challenges, this study reports a dual-interface engineered resin vat that decouples interfacial adhesion and curing regulation through independent material design. A superamphiphobic superlow-adhesion interface (SLAI) minimizes interfacial bonding at the release surface, while a carbon quantum dot-incorporated polydimethylsiloxane (CQD-PDMS) optical layer is introduced at the vat window to modulate interfacial photon flux and confine polymerization within the intended layer thickness. Compared with the conventional release film interface, the proposed synergistic interfacial control significantly reduced separation forces during layer detachment from 5 to 15 N to 0.25–3 N, depending on resin viscosity and processing conditions, corresponding to a maximum reduction of up to 95% under optimized conditions. Simultaneously, dimensional fidelity was substantially improved, reducing the Z -direction deviation from approximately 7% to 0.2%. Importantly, the optical modification preserves high transparency and demonstrates stable performance over 10,000 consecutive printing cycles. By establishing a materials-driven strategy that simultaneously regulates adhesion energy and interfacial curing density, this work provides a scalable pathway for stabilizing detachment mechanics and enhancing dimensional precision in vat photopolymerization without altering the resin chemistry.