Phototriggered Base Proliferation: A Highly Efficient Domino Reaction for Creating Functionally Photo-Screened Materials

Phototriggered base proliferation as a highly efficient domino reaction is presented for creating functionally photo-screened materials, providing a strategy for the photopolymerization of shadow areas via chemically diffuse amines toward the nonirradiated areas during polymerization. By integrating proliferated amines with a peroxide initiator (dibenzoyl peroxide, BPO), phototriggered self-propagating polymerization of acrylate monomers in three-dimensional space was achieved. The advantages of this approach lie in its enhanced photosensitivity, increased propagating velocity, and elevated double-bond conversion (90%) while reducing the local high temperature and the minimum BPO concentration that sustain a traveling front. Astonishingly, the propagating velocity and local maximum temperature can be well-modulated by varied BPO concentration and the appropriate amount of BA-BPD (1-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)-4-benzylpiperidine) concentration, respectively. Finally, functionally photo-screened material containing carbon nanotubes was successfully prepared by phototriggered base proliferation reactions.