UV-Cured, Platinum-Free, Soft Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Networks

To overcome the drawbacks exhibited by platinum-catalyzed curing of silicones, photoinitiated thiol-ene cross-linking of high-molecular-weight poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) prepolymers has been investigated as a pathway to novel soft PDMS networks, based on commercially available starting materials was developed. Through a fast and efficient two-step cross-linking reaction highly flexible PDMS elastomers were prepared.