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Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Facile Synthesis of Worm-like Micelles by Visible Light Mediated Dispersion Polymerization Using Photoredox Catalyst
Published on: June 8, 2016
Optical Autocatalysis Establishes Novel Spatial Dynamics in Phase Separation of Polymer Blends during Photocuring
Saeid Biria1, Phillip P A Malley2, Tara F Kahan2
1Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and ‡Department of Chemistry, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, United States.
Abstract:
We report a fundamentally new nonlinear dynamic system that couples optical autocatalytic behavior to phase evolution in photoreactive binary polymer blends. Upon exposure to light, the blend undergoes spontaneous patterning into a dense arrangement of microscale polymer filaments. The filaments' growth in turn induces local spinodal decomposition of the blend along their length, thereby regulating the spatially dynamics of phase separation. This leads to the spontaneous organization of a large-scale binary phase morphology dictated by the filament arrangement. This is a new mechanism for polymer blend organization, which couples nonlinear optical dynamics to chemical phase separation dynamics, and offers a new approach to light-directed patterning and organization of polymer and hybrid blends.
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