Issue 10, 2023

Low birefringence and low dispersion aliphatic thermosets with a high and tunable refractive index

Abstract

We herein present a new class of high refractive index polymers prepared through the reaction of bis(2,3-epithiopropyl)sulfide, a series of poly(alkyl polysulfide)s, and elemental sulfur. The addition of an amine catalyst leads to rapid polymerization, resulting in a series of thermosets with high transmittance over the entire visible range. The refractive index of the thermosets can be fine-tuned over the range of 1.700–1.745 (λ = 589 nm) by varying the feed ratios of elemental sulfur and the polysulfide polymers. A wide range of properties, including the birefringence (Δn), optical dispersion, temperature coefficient of refractive index (dn/dT), transmittance, and glass transition temperature (Tg), of the thermosets are presented. The polymers exhibited a very low birefringence (Δn < 0.002), which is attributed to the absence of aromatic functional groups, exceptionally low optical dispersion (VD > 30), Tg > 60 °C, and dn/dT similar to that of PMMA.

Graphical abstract: Low birefringence and low dispersion aliphatic thermosets with a high and tunable refractive index

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Dit 2022
Accepted
03 Nah 2023
First published
06 Nah 2023

Polym. Chem., 2023,14, 1117-1123

Low birefringence and low dispersion aliphatic thermosets with a high and tunable refractive index

Y. Jeon, J. Choi, D. Seo, S. H. Jung and J. Lim, Polym. Chem., 2023, 14, 1117 DOI: 10.1039/D2PY01327D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements