title: Fabrication of 3D photonic crystals from chitosan that are responsive to organic solvents.
abstract: Inspired by photonic nanostructures in nature, such as the hair-like chaetae on the body of sea mice, inverse opal photonic crystals films were fabricated with chitosan, a kind of biomacromolecule found in nature. First, monodispersed polystyrene (PS) colloidal crystal templates with different particle sizes were prepared. The inverse opal films (IOFs) were fabricated through in situ cross-linking of the PS templates. The IOFs contain periodically ordered interconnecting pores that endow the films with photonic stop bands and structural colors, which are visible to the naked eye. The IOFs exhibit rapid reversible changes in their structural colors and reflectance peaks in response to alcohols and phenols. Possible mechanisms for the shifts in the IOF's reflectance peaks are proposed. The changes in the IOFs in response to alcohols and phenols provide a potential way to visually detect these organic solvents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University , No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guanbo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yibing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Zeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Mingxi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yongli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D017785:Photons; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D011137:Polystyrenes; D012997:Solvents; D048271:Chitosan