Recent advances on photoinitiating systems designed for solar photocrosslinking polymerization reactions

Photopolymerization is an active research field and recently, a great deal of efforts has been devoted to replace the energy-consuming UV irradiation setups by the popular and easily available energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs). With aim at going a step further, sunlight can be used as an inexpensive and unlimited light source to perform polymerization processes. In this case, no energy is required anymore, and the use of photo -polymerization for various outdoor applications becomes possible. Over the years, and with aim at developing reliable photoinitiating systems, various dyes have been developed, enabling in the case of sunny days to effi-ciently promote polymerization processes. In this review, an overview of the different photoinitiating systems developed for polymerization processes done under sunlight or even daylight is provided. Polymerization effi-ciency is often compared to that obtained with artificial light sources, enabling to determine the efficacy of the photoinitiating systems under sunlight.

Automated summary

Photopolymerization is a research field that aims to replace energy-consuming UV irradiation setups with energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or even sunlight as a light source. Various dyes have been developed to efficiently promote polymerization processes under sunlight, enabling the use of photopolymerization in outdoor applications. This review provides an overview of different photoinitiating systems developed for polymerization processes under sunlight or daylight, comparing their efficiency to that of artificial light sources.