Plasmonic nanoparticles tuned thermal sensitive photonic polymer for biomimetic chameleon

Abstract

Among many thermo-photochromic materials, the color-changing behavior caused by temperature and light is usually lack of a full color response. And the study on visible light-stimuli chromic response is rarely reported. Here, we proposed a strategy to design a thermo-photochromic chameleon biomimetic material consisting of photonic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-methacrylic acid) copolymer and plasmonic nanoparticles which has a vivid color change triggered by temperature and light like chameleons. We make use of the plasmonic nanoparticles like gold nanoparticles and silver nanoparticles to increase the sensitivity of the responsive behavior and control the lower critical solution temperature of the thermosensitive films by tuning the polymer chain conformation transition. Finally, it is possible that this film would have colorimetric responses to the entire VIS spectrum by the addition of different plasmonic nanoparticles to tune the plasmonic excitation wavelength. As a result, this method provides a potential use in new biosensors, military and many other aspects.