Functional films via thiol-ene photopolymerization

Co-Authors: Bradley J. Sparks, Ethan F. T. Hoff, Li Xiong
The University of Southern Mississippi

Light-induced polymerization is an industrially viable process that offers numerous economic and technical advantages over conventional thermal polymerization, particularly toward the fabrication of crosslinked thermoset thin films. These advantages include rapid through cure, low energy requirements, ambient temperature processing, solvent-free resin compositions, and spatial and temporal control over the polymerization process. Films derived from light-induced radical-mediated thiol-ene reactions, in particular, provide many advantages over traditional acrylate or methacrylate resins. Thiol-ene polymer networks form via a free-radical step-growth process facilitated by a rapid, highly efficient chain-transfer reaction between multifunctional enes and thiols which provides insensitivity to oxygen inhibition and near-perfect network structures with well-defined physical and mechanical properties. This presentation will focus on the use of thiol-ene photopolymerization to fabricate thin, crosslinked polymer networks containing functionality aimed at tailoring film properties such as glass transition temperature, interfacial adhesion, and wetting behavior.