Mechanochromic photonic-crystal fibers based on continuous sheets of aligned carbon nanotubes.
A new family of mechanochromic photonic-crystal fibers exhibits tunable structural colors under stretching. This novel mechanochromic fiber is prepared by depositing polymer microspheres onto a continuous aligned-carbon-nanotube sheet that has been wound on an elastic poly(dimethylsiloxane) fiber, followed by further embedding in poly(dimethylsiloxane). The color of the fiber can be tuned by varying the size and the center-to-center distance of the polymer spheres. It further experiences reversible and rapid multicolor changes during the stretch and release processes, for example, between red, green, and blue. Both the high sensitivity and stability were maintained after 1000 deformation cycles. These elastic photonic-crystal fibers were woven into patterns and smart fabrics for various display and sensing applications.
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438 (China). sunxm@fudan.edu.cn.
Xuemei
X
Sun
Jing
J
Zhang
Xin
X
Lu
Xin
X
Fang
Huisheng
H
Peng
carbon nanotubes; fibers; materials science; mechanochromic properties; photonic crystals