One‐Component Carbon Dot Photoinitiator Enables High‐Fidelity Digital Light Processing 3D Printing With Improved Mechanical Resistance

ABSTRACT

Developing efficient photoinitiators ( PIs ) from biomass for high‐fidelity, robust, and bio‐safe digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing remains a formidable challenge. Herein, a unique one‐component carbon dot‐based PI ( CD ‐ PO ), capable of high‐fidelity DLP printing, is developed by grafting photocleavable diphenylacylphosphine oxide moieties onto the surface of CD s derived from renewable furfural. The nanostructured CD ‐ PO effectively generates radicals to initiate the photopolymerization of acrylate monomers during DLP printing. Compared to conventional diphenyl(2,4,6‐trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide ( TPO ) used in DLP printing, CD ‐ PO achieves three breakthroughs: 1) CD ‐ PO enables micron‐scale printing precision by optimizing the photocuring depth; 2) CD ‐ PO enhances mechanical resistance, as approved by the increased storage modulus at T _g , with the resulting polymer network exhibiting a nano‐composition reinforcement effect that leads to a toughness approximately 4.6 times that of the network photocured with petroleum‐based TPO ; 3) The reduced migration of CD ‐ PO components improves biological safety. The combined effectiveness of CD ‐ PO in initiating photopolymerization, controlling curing depth, and reinforcing mechanical toughness ultimately enables high‐fidelity DLP 3D‐printing of diverse photoresins with structural complexity. In addition, CD ‐ PO maintains high photoreactivity under aerobic conditions at low UV‐LED intensity. This study demonstrates a robust strategy for designing one‐component PI s incorporating biomass‐derived components, further highlighting the versatility of biomass in photopolymerization‐driven applications.