Effect of molecular diffusion on polymerization behavior induced by scanning wave photopolymerization

Molecular alignment control in polymer films is key to the development of high-performance materials with optical, electronic and thermal functions. Among molecular alignment techniques, a photoalignment method offers the fine and remote control of two-dimensional molecular alignment by the irradiation with linearly polarized light. We have recently proposed a novel photoalignment method based on the molecular diffusion caused by the polymer concentration gradient, termed scanning wave photopolymerization. In this study, we report specific polymerization behavior occurring during the process of the scanning wave photopolymerization. We investigate the effect of molecular diffusion on the photopolymerization behavior by measuring molecular weight of the polymers obtained under various photopolymerization conditions.