Type I Photoinitiator Based on Sustainable Carbon Dots

Sustainable carbon dots comprising surficial oxime ester groups following homolytic bond cleavage exhibit potential as photoinitiators for traditional free radical photopolymerization. Carbon dots were made following a solvothermal procedure from sustainable furfural available from lignocellulose. Surficial aldehyde moieties reacted with hydroxylamine to the respective oxime while reaction with benzoyl chloride resulted in a biobased Type I photoinitiator comprising sustainable carbon dot (CD‐PI). Photoinitiating ability was compared with the traditional photoinitiator (PI) ethyl (2,4,6‐trimethyl benzoyl) phenyl phosphinate (TPO‐L) by real‐time FTIR with UV exposure at 365 nm. Photopolymer composition based on a mixture of urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) and tripropylene glycol diethacrylate (TPGDA) resulted in a similar final conversion of about 70% using either CD‐PI or TPO‐L. Nevertheless, it appeared homogeneous in the case of compositions processed with CD‐PI, while those made with TPO‐L were heterogeneous as shown by two glass transition temperatures. Moreover, the migration rate of CD‐PI in the cured samples was lower in comparison with those samples using TPO‐L as PI.