Recent Advances on Metal-Free Quantum Dots as Green Photocatalysts for Photoinduced Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Visible-light mediated photoinduced reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) is a promising method for producing well-defined polymers; however, it typically requires metal-containing catalysts, which can be toxic and limit practical applications.Therefore, developing new RDRP techniques is crucial.One promising approach is visible-light mediated photoinduced atom transfer radical polymerization (photoATRP), which utilizes metal-free photocatalysts and eco-friendly light to catalyze polymerization.PhotoATRP offers more precise control over polymerization kinetics and can be performed in diverse solvents, including water, enhancing versatility and enabling the production of polymers with well-defined structures, low molecular weight distribution indexes, and controllable relative molecular weights.This minireview outlines recent advances on photoATRP using metal-free quantum dots (QDs) as photocatalysts.The research progress and influence factors for QDs-based photoATRP, as well as the mechanistic insights into the process, were discussed.Finally, we address the challenges and opportunities facing QDs-based photoATRP.