Recent advances on visible light induced cationic polymerization

Cationic polymerization is an important branch of polymer chemistry. Traditional cationic polymerization must be carried out in anhydrous and low temperature environment, with harsh operating conditions, high operating costs and high energy consumption. Visible light induced cationic polymerization is simple, environmentally friendly, and low-cost, so it has become a research hotspot of living cationic polymerization. This paper gives an overview of the recent advances (mainly from 2015 to 2023) on visible-light-induced cationic polymerization, with a focus on visible-light-initiated and visible-light-controlled cationic polymerization. On the basis of controlling cationic polymerization to achieve macromolecular reaction engineering, the realization of temporal scale control will be the main development direction in the future.