Synthesis and characterization of UV-Curable pyrimidine-based Poly(Acrylate) and zirconium acrylate nanocomposite with high refractive index

Highly refractive polymers are widely used in the optics industry. They are typically synthesized as matrices containing relatively high refractive index inorganic fillers, resulting in transparent, practical, and useful thin materials. This research introduces novel photo-curable pyrimidine-based acrylate monomers containing aromatic groups or aliphatic groups with sulfur atoms. Diphenylacrylate sulfanyl-methylthio-pyrimidine (DPASMTP) and trisphenylacrylate-sulfanyl-pyrimidine (TPASP) were designed and synthesized for optical applications. The polymers were obtained after a simple photo-polymerization, and exhibited good thermal stabilities (T_d > 350) and high transmittance (>85% at λcutoff). All of the ZrA nanocomposites (NCs) showed well-dispersed particles at the nanometer level, high refractive index (>1.68 at 637 nm) and very low birefringence (<0.0135 at 637 nm). The ZrA contents were correlated with the optical properties of the photo-cured polymer systems, and were confirmed to enhance the refractive index.