title: Electrothermally Driven Fluorescence Switching by Liquid Crystal Elastomers Based On Dimensional Photonic Crystals.
abstract: In this article, the fabrication of an active organic-inorganic one-dimensional photonic crystal structure to offer electrothermal fluorescence switching is described. The film is obtained by spin-coating of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) and TiO2nanoparticles alternatively. By utilizing the property of LCEs that can change their size and shape reversibly under external thermal stimulations, the λmaxof the photonic band gap of these films is tuned by voltage through electrothermal conversion. The shifted photonic band gap further changes the matching degree between the photonic band gap of the film and the emission spectrum of organic dye mounting on the film. With rhodamine B as an example, the enhancement factor of its fluorescence emission is controlled by varying the matching degree. Thus, the fluorescence intensity is actively switched by voltage applied on the system, in a fast, adjustable, and reversible manner. The control chain of using the electrothermal stimulus to adjust fluorescence intensity via controlling the photonic band gap is proved by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV-vis reflectance. This mechanism also corresponded to the results from the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The comprehensive usage of photonic crystals and liquid crystal elastomers opened a new possibility for active optical devices.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University , 361005 Xiamen, P.R. China.|Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Changxu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6017-9872
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P. R. China.|Beilun Science and Technology Bureau , Ningbo, 315800, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: College of Science, National University of Defence Technology , Changsha 410073, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Cheng-An
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xianpeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shiqiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University , 361005 Xiamen, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiangyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guangtao
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4127-1715
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: electrothermal driven; fluorescence switching; liquid crystal elastomers; nanostructured materials; photonic crystals