Performance comparison of acrylic and thiolacrylic resins in two-photon polymerization

Microfabrication by two-photon polymerization is investigated using resins based on thiol-ene chemistry. In particular, resins containing different amounts of a tetrafunctional acrylic monomer and a tetrafunctional thiol molecule are used to create complex microstructures. We observe the enhancement of several characteristics of two-photon polymerization when using thiol-acrylic resins. Specifically, microfabrication is carried out using higher writing velocities and it produces stronger polymeric microstructures. Furthermore, the amount of shrinkage typically observed in the production of three-dimensional microstructures is reduced also. By means of microspectrometry, we confirm that the thiol-acrylate mixture in TPP resins promote monomer conversion inducing a higher degree of crosslinked network formation.