Visible-Light-Driven Sustainable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Polymer Films and Patterns

Hazardous waste generation in nanomanufacturing is raising serious environmental concerns and increasing the demand for energy and resources for emission control. Although the vapor-phase deposition of nanoscale coatings possesses a solvent-free advantage, recycling precursors from the complex composition in the exhaust is still formidable. Here, a visible-light-driven chemical vapor deposition method is proposed, which allows initiator-free polymer deposition with facile monomer recovery. The photocatalytic radical generation is confined at the monomer/semiconductor interface, maintaining unreacted monomers intact under 420 nm irradiation. Multilayer monomer adsorption conditions are also employed to inhibit the desorption of radical species. Thereby, high-purity monomer can be recycled from the exhaust by condensation with an outstanding recovery rate of 96.28%. Furthermore, this deposition method is demonstrated for synthesizing effective anticorrosion coatings and fabricating self-aligned patterns with an area selectivity of 97.4%. This work provides insights for guiding the design of eco-friendly deposition methods and paves the way to sustainable nanomanufacturing.