Facile preparation of silver-based nanocomposites via thiol-methacrylate ‘click’ photopolymerization

Abstract Dispersions of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in a tetrafunctional thiol were prepared by in situ reduction of silver nitrate with 2,6-di- tert -butyl- para -cresol. The obtained Ag NPs, were maintained in a stable colloidal state for more than eleven months at ambient temperature. The thiol monomer acts as both stabilizing agent and reactive solvent. Mixtures of dispersions of Ag NPs in thiol and a bifunctional methacrylate monomer were photoactivated with 2,2-Dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (DMPA) or Camphorquinone (CQ) and then photopolymerized by irradiation with UV or visible light respectively. Dispersions containing high amounts of Ag NPs were more efficiently photopolymerized with the pair CQ/visible light. This is attributed to fact that the emission range of the UV LED (365 ± 5 nm) was overlapped with the surface plasmon resonance band of the Ag NPs (λ