Low volume shrinkage photopolymerization system using hydrogen-bond-based monomers

•A generic and efficient strategy to achieve low volume shrinkage by using monomers containing hydrogen bonds.•Photopolymerization formulas with monomers containing hydrogen bonds have lower shrinkage than commercial monomers.•Photopolymerization formulas with monomers containing hydrogen bonds also have lower shrinkage than hydrogen-bond-free monomers. Reactive diluents are an efficient and versatile tool to adjust viscosity and reduce volatile organic compound formation in photopolymerization. However, volume shrinkage of monomers remains a great challenge in the rapid photopolymerization process. We report a generic and efficient strategy to achieve low volume shrinkage by using monomers containing hydrogen bonds. The results indicate that formulas with monomers containing hydrogen bonds have lower shrinkage than commercial monomers and hydrogen-bond-free monomers with similar structures. When the amount of monomer is 30 wt%, the volume shrinkage of samples with hydrogen bond monomers is less than 7%. When the amount of monomer is 50 wt%, the linear shrinkage of the corresponding samples is less than 6%.