Abstract
Light activation finds widely spread application to initiate the polymerization of liquid organic precursors in order to photochemically produce solid organic resins at low irradiation intensity. The main advantages of this process are that it can be activated locally, by focusing a light beam, remotely, and switched on/off easily, in a safe and convenient irradiation regime. For these features, light activated polymerization is used for patterning organic structures in fields of high technological, economic and social impact such as stereolithography and tooth restoration. For both applications INorganic photochemical PATTerning (INPATT), hence the photochemically-controlled production of a solid inorganic matrix instead of an organic resin, would represent a real breakthrough. Nevertheless, no precursor formulations suitable for this application are available on the market. Recently we demonstrated that a focalized light beam can be used to produce, locally, insoluble carbonate and phosphate in a water precursor solution. Our preliminary research also showed that a similar result can be achieved by photochemical generation of an acid or a base in a suitably designed precursor solution and that this approach can be easily extended to inorganic materials other than carbonate. On the basis of these results, we believe we can offer a solution to the market for the problem of patterning inorganic materials with light. The ambitious objective of INPATT is to provide new liquid formulations suitable for this application in stereolithography and tooth restoration. Preliminary contacts with the final users, companies using stereolithography and dentists, have been already taken. Both categories of users manifested high interest for the INPATT project and we expect to file at least one European patent application based on the project’s results. Further analysis of the market and promotion of the technology and of the expected outcomes of INPATT will be carried on.
Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Marco Montalti
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Chimica "Giacomo Ciamician"
Coordinator:
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (Csic)(Spain)
Other Participants:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna
(Italy)
Universität Konstanz
(Germany)
Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 150.000,00
Project Duration in months: 18
Start Date:
01/04/2022
End Date:
30/09/2023
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101069348