Sunlight-driven photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization at a large scale

Zi-Hui Fan; Wei-Wei Fang; Yi-Xing Liu; Zheng-Hao Xiao; Jian-Kun Yu; Xu-Yi He; Xian-Zhen Wang; Xue-Ning Tang; Lei Xia; Long-Xiang Tang; Tao He

doi:10.1039/D5SC04010H

Sunlight-driven photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization at a large scale

Zi-Hui Fan,†^a Wei-Wei Fang,†^ab Yi-Xing Liu,^a Zheng-Hao Xiao,^c Jian-Kun Yu,^a Xu-Yi He,^d Xian-Zhen Wang,^a Xue-Ning Tang,^e Lei Xia,*^a Long-Xiang Tang*^a and Tao He

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Value-Added Catalytic Conversion and Reaction Engineering, Anhui Province Engineering Research Center of Flexible and Intelligent Material, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui 230009, P. R. China
E-mail: lxia@hfut.edu.cn, tanglx@hfut.edu.cn, taohe@hfut.edu.cn

^b School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, P. R. China

^c School of Microelectronics, Microelectronics Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518005, P. R. China

^d University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China

^e School of Data Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518172, P.R. China

Abstract

Photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization is a sustainable and powerful tool to synthesize polymers and copolymers. However, the development of large-scale production and polymerizations using sunlight irradiation remain top challenges for PET-RAFT polymerizations. In this study, conjugated cross-linked phosphine (PPh₃-CHCP) was explored as a heterogeneous photocatalyst for efficient PET-RAFT polymerization. This development allowed PET-RAFT processes to achieve high monomer conversions, low dispersity and good chain-end fidelity under a broad range of wavelengths and sunlight irradiation from various monomers. The heterogeneous PPh₃-CHCP photocatalyst could be easily separated and reused without obvious structural deterioration or decrease in efficiency. Sunlight-driven photopolymerization of MA (methyl acrylate) was scaled up to 2 L (conversion of 93%), and the obtained polymer showed good control over both molecular weight and dispersity (Đ = 1.13). White light-driven polymerization of MA (conversion of 91%, Đ = 1.27) reached a 6 L scale. These results demonstrate a great potential for industrial applications.

Chemical Science

Sunlight-driven photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization at a large scale

Abstract

Supplementary files

Transparent peer review

Article information

Download Citation

Permissions

Sunlight-driven photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization at a large scale

Social activity

Search articles by author

Spotlight

Advertisements