Fabrication of phase-change polymer colloidal photonic crystals

Abstract

This paper presents the preparation of phase-change polymer colloidal photonic crystals (PCs) by assembling hollow latex spheres encapsulated with dodecanol for the first time. The monodispersed hollow latex spheres were obtained by phase reversion of monodispersed core-shell latex spheres in the n-hexane, which dissolves the PS core and retains the PMMA/PAA shell. The as-prepared phase-change colloidal PCs show stable phase-change behavior. This fabrication of phase-change colloidal PCs would be significant for PC's applications in functional coatings and various optic devices. © 2014 Tianyi Zhao et al.