A visible light photochemical route to silver–epoxy nanocomposites by simultaneous polymerization–reduction approach

The in situ synthesis of silver–epoxy nanocomposite by visible light photoinduced processes was described. The visible light photoinitiator, camphorquinone (CQ) (2,3-bornanedione), was used to generate electron-donating radicals upon photolysis. Subsequent oxidation of these radicals to the corresponding cations in the presence of silver hexafluoroantimonate (AgSbF6) leads to the simultaneous formation of silver nanoparticles and initiation of cationic polymerization of epoxy resin, 1,3-bis(3,4-epoxycyclohexylethyl)tetramethyldisiloxane (EPOX) present in the formulation. The cured nanocomposites were characterized by FT-IR, DSC and TEM measurements.