Abstract
Photothermal curing of polymer nanocomposites inherently requires the addition of a light-absorbing photothermal agent to thermalize the incident light. For applications where the final product is desired to be clear and colorless, this can lead to an apparent contradiction in requirements. Herein, we demonstrate that carbon black is an excellent photothermal agent that leads to large photothermal enhancement for the curing of polydimethylsiloxane, even at extremely low loadings (1 × 10-6 w/w) that result in composites that are scarcely more colored than the pure polymer. We demonstrate this photothermal enhancement using infrared spectroscopy to track the rate of reaction, demonstrate that photothermal curing produces dense cross-linked polymers, and develop a computational model for the heating that verifies that significant heating is expected even at these low loadings. The model also reveals that the penetration depth of light through a sample, thermal conduction through a sample, and convective cooling at the sample’s surface control the thermal profiles through the sample. In particular, we find that the peak temperature is always some distance below the surface and that this distance, and the final maximum temperature, can be controlled via the loading of the photothermal agent.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 7508-7515 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Macromolecules |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 15 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 13 2024 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Organic Chemistry
- Polymers and Plastics
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Materials Chemistry