| Version | Summary | Created by | Modification | Content Size | Created at | Operation |
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| 1 | Helena Kang | -- | 205 | 2026-09-23 08:14:50 | | | |
| 2 | Helena Kang | -9 word(s) | 196 | 2026-09-24 05:51:39 | | | | |
| 3 | Helena Kang | Meta information modification | 196 | 2026-09-24 05:53:14 | | |
Photo-induced polymerization is a chain-growth process in which absorption of light generates the initiating species that starts macromolecular propagation [1]. In photopolymerization the concept is bounded by photonic initiation: the light quantum is required to produce radicals, cations, or related active centers, after which chain growth may proceed by a conventional thermal mechanism. Essential components are a photoinitiator or photoactive monomer, a wavelength that matches the absorption of that species, and a monomer that can propagate from the photogenerated center. The definition excludes thermally initiated polymerizations that happen to be conducted under illumination and excludes photochemical small-molecule reactions that do not produce a macromolecule. Photo-induced initiation can be used to grow grafts from a surface, to lock a self-assembled chiral superstructure into a polymer matrix, or to trigger polymerization-induced self-assembly when a solvophilic block is chain-extended with a solvophobic monomer [1][2][3]. Because initiation is spatially and temporally confined to the illuminated region, the same concept underlies the formation of patterned or rapidly cured polymer networks. The process is distinguished from pulsed-laser polymerization used solely as a kinetic analysis method by its identity as a preparative polymerization rather than as a rate-coefficient experiment.