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US 11,351,530 B2Granted
Light-assisted photocatalyst regeneration and oxygen-resilient radical polymerization
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsHadley Sikes Johnson, Hector Alan Aguirre Soto
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Abstract
A photocatalyst can be regenerated with increasing efficiency, turnover number and turnover frequency in the presence of air by irradiating the photocatalyst with a first range of wavelengths of light that excite the photocatalyst to an intermediate and irradiating the intermediate with a second range of wavelengths of light that turns the intermediate to the photocatalyst.
Claims14
A method of regenerating a photocatalyst comprising:
- irradiating the photocatalyst with a first range of wavelengths of light that excite the photocatalyst;
- forming visible-light absorbing metastable intermediates that increase efficiency, turnover number and turnover frequency of the catalyst and allow the photocatalyst to be regenerated by oxygen;
- enabling radical polymerization in the presence of oxygen;
- reducing or oxidizing the one or more intermediates;
- and
- simultaneously irradiating the one or more reduced or oxidized intermediates with a second range of wavelengths of light and oxidizing or reducing an excited state to turn the intermediate to the photocatalyst,
- wherein the first range of wavelengths of light and the second range of wavelengths of light are different
- thereby selectively accelerating photocatalyst regeneration, such that after oxygen depletion, the photocatalyst remains available for initiation.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.