Photostabilizers have different functions due to their own structures and varieties. Some can shield, reflect or absorb ultraviolet rays and convert them into harmless heat energy; some can quench the excited state of molecules or groups excited by ultraviolet rays, returning them to the ground state, eliminating or slowing down the possibility of photoredox reactions; some can capture free radicals generated by photoredox, thereby preventing free radical reactions that cause product aging and protecting products from ultraviolet damage.
In industry, effective prevention and retardation of photoaging are mostly compounded with two or more photostabilizers with different mechanisms of action to absorb ultraviolet rays in different bands. It can achieve the best effect that a single photostabilizer cannot achieve.
The ultraviolet absorber added to sunscreen cosmetics also has a sunscreen mechanism based on dispersing or absorbing ultraviolet rays incident on the skin surface, thereby preventing or reducing the skin from ultraviolet damage.