Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Radical Photoinitiators

Upon photoexcitation, SWNTs, which have semiconducting behavior, can generate radicals that in turn start acrylic polyaddition reactions. The high efficiency of photoinitiation of polyethyleneglycol diacrylate achieved in the presence of SWNTs is evidenced by the high acrylic double bond conversion reached in the presence of the carbon filler and confirmed by the high gel content values of the cured films. Thermal analyses show that the effect of T(g) increases with increased SWNT content in the formulations. Morphology investigations show a good dispersion and distribution of the SWNTs within the polymeric coating. It is demonstrated that the use of semiconducting SWNTs can combine the advantages of using them both as the filler and photoinitiator at the same time to achieve composite materials with enhanced properties.