Functional Polymer-Opals from Core-Shell Colloids

Colloidal photonic crystals were prepared from monodisperse core-shell particles. The shell is hereby formed from a functional monomer, such as glycidylmethacrylate or different reactive ester monomers, which can perform chemical reactions and the core from a standard monomer, which yields highly monodisperse colloids. It was possible to crystallize the core-shell particles into artificial opals with excellent optical properties. Reactions on the functional surface of the colloids were carried out, which lead to a dramatic rise in the mechanical stability or to a functionalization of His-tagged silicatein, which acts as nanoreactor to synthesize and immobilize gold nanoparticles from auric …

Photonic Crystals from Core-Shell Colloids with Incorporated Highly Fluorescent Quantum Dots

We report the preparation of nanoscaled PS/PMMA core-shell spheres with highly fluorescent CdS/ZnS coated CdSe quantum dots (QDs) integrated in the core. Core-shell spheres of different diameters have been self-assembled to colloidal photonic crystals (PCs) with photonic stop bands located in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. For the synthesis of the core, a modified miniemulsion polymerization has been used; the shell was prepared by a newly developed core-shell polymerization. The CdSe QDs embedded in the core were coated with the higher band gap semiconductor materials CdS and ZnS in a successive ion layer adsorption reaction (SILAR) keeping up the light-emitting propert…

Tunable defects in colloidal photonic crystals

We present a bottom-up approach for the construction of tunable functional defects in colloidal photonic crystals (CPCs). These structures incorporate polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) planar defects embedded in silica CPCs through a combination of evaporation induced self-assembly and microcontact transfer printing. We show how the enormous chemical diversity inherent to PEMs can be harnessed to create chemically active defect structures responsive to solvent vapor pressures, light, temperature as well as redox cycling. A sharp transmission state within the photonic stopband, induced by the PEM defect, can be precisely, reproducibly and in some cases reversibly tuned by these external stimu…

Opaline effect pigments by spray induced self‐assembly on porous substrates

Self‐assembling of opaline materials on porous substrates like paper requires a very fast crystallization, which can be realized with highly monodisperse colloids. This opens the possibility of applying effect pigments to such substrates not by spraying the rather large effect pigments themselves, but by spraying their building blocks, which self‐assemble later on. The feasibility of this approach is presented here for monodisperse polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) spheres. This process tolerates additives used for ink‐jet printing.

Functional 3D Photonic Films from Polymer Beads

This paper describes synthesis and properties of polymer opals with a special emphasis on functional opals. Polymer opals are formed from monodisperse polymer colloids by self-assembly. Their potential applications range from coloring pigments, 3D bicontinuous supports for catalysis to photonic materials. This latter application requires especially the controlled creation of defects and the incorporation of fluorescent materials. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

"Smart" defects in colloidal photonic crystals

AbstractWe present a bottom-up approach for the construction of "Smart" active defects in colloidal photonic crystals (CPCs). These structures incorporate polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) planar defects embedded in silica CPCs through a combination of evaporation induced self-assembly and microcontact transfer printing. We show how the enormous chemical diversity inherent to PEMs can be harnessed to create chemically active defect structures responsive to solvent vapor pressures, light, temperature as well as redox cycling. A sharp transmission state within the photonic stopband, induced by the PEM defect, can be precisely, reproducibly and in some cases reversibly tuned by these external s…

Functional Opals from Reactive Polymers: Complex Structures, Sensors, and Modified Photoluminescence

This paper describes the synthesis and properties of functional opal structures, so-called colloidal photonic crystals (CPCs), from a variety of reactive polymers. Photoprocessable opals are presented as well as opals with incorporated smart defect layers that can be actively addressed by external stimuli. In addition, opals with functional bio-macromolecular defects have been developed. They present a new class of materials for optical biomonitoring through shifts of the induced photonic defect mode. Strong modification of photoluminescence according to the photonic bandstructure is observed from opals with embedded exclusively luminescent defect layer.

Inside Front Cover: Redox-Tunable Defects in Colloidal Photonic Crystals (Adv. Mater. 20/2005)

The inside front cover illustrates reversible tuning of an intragap transmitting state induced by redox cycling, accomplished using a redox-active polyferrocenylsilane polyelectrolyte multilayer planar defect embedded in a colloidal photonic crystal (CPC) synthesized by a bottom–up method combining colloidal self-assembly and microcontact printing. In work reported on p. 2455 by Manners, Ozin, and co-workers, the wavelength position of the defect state can be changed by changing the oxidation state of the ferrocene moieties in the polymer backbone. This could find applications in electrochemically tunable microcavities, and—if light emitters are incorporated—electrochemically tunable CPC-ba…

Chemical Approach to Functional Artificial Opals

Artificial opals are self-assembled colloidal crystals, which consist of a cubic dense packing (fcc) of hard (not film-forming) colloids with diameters ranging from 200 to 900 nm. Because of their periodic nanostructure the assemblies are able to reflect light that matches their periodicity, i.e., UV- to IR-radiation depending on the size of the colloids. Thus, they present a subgroup of 'photonic crystals'. While, originally, the chemistry inside the colloids and the resulting opals was of minor significance, nowadays the chemical variation of opals is becoming more and more important for the preparation of functional and patterned opals. The search for functional opals is, therefore, espe…

Opale: Photonische Kristalle

Opale sind selbstorganisierte, kubisch dichtest gepackte Kolloidkristalle mit Kolloid-Durchmessern im Nanometer- und Submikrometerbereich. Aufgrund der periodisch modulierten Dielektrizitatskonstante bilden sich photonische Bandlucken aus, so dass die Ausbreitung von Licht mit Wellenlangen in der Grosenordnung der Gitterkonstanten unterdruckt wird. Dies erklart u.a. den brillianten Farbeindruck. Opale konnen synthetisch aus Polymer- oder Metalloxidkolloiden in einem Bottom-up-Prozess hergestellt und auf vielfaltige Weise chemisch funktionalisiert, strukturiert oder als Template fur ihre invertierten Strukturen verwendet werden. Anwendungsgebiete reichen von optischen Chips, Farbdisplays und…

Redox-Tunable Defects in Colloidal Photonic Crystals

DNA Designer Defects in Photonic Crystals: Optically Monitored Biochemistry