Large‐Area Fabrication of Highly Tunable Hybrid Plasmonic–Photonic Structures Based on Colloidal Lithography and a Photoreconfigurable Polymer

Abstract

In this work, based on colloidal lithography, a strategy is developed to produce a new type of hybrid plasmonic–photonic system comprising a periodic array of nanoholes in a photoreconfigurable polymer layer deposited on a gold surface. By controlling the experimental conditions, the geometric parameters of the nanoholes can be easily adjusted; hence, the optical properties of the systems are widely tunable. Importantly, the shape and topology of the round nanohole arrays can be easily reconfigured with proper photoirradiation, providing a means to modulate the optical properties and produce new functionalities, as exemplified by the formation of arrays with anisotropic or gradient structural features. Moreover, rubbing dielectric spheres into the formed nanoholes can further tune the topological structures of the dielectric components in the hybrid system, leading to a dramatic modification of the spatial energy distributions and inducing the formation of uniform electromagnetic fields confined near the embedded sphere surfaces, which are more beneficial for practical applications. All the results indicate that the combined use of the unique properties of both a photoreconfigurable polymer and colloidal lithography opens a new avenue with great potential for efficient and large‐area fabrication of hybrid plasmonic–photonic systems with a high degree of optical tunability.

Bio‐Inspired Multi‐Responsive Structural Color Hydrogel with Constant Volume and Wide Viewing Angles

“…202100831 In accordance with the Bragg diffraction, the color mainly depends on the periodic structural parameters, the observing angle, and the average refractive index of materials. [7,8] Because the structural colors of the PhCs are freedom from any fluorescent background and photobleaching, the PhCs hold promising value in a variety of fields that related to colors. [9][10][11][12] Especially, the strategies that integrating the PhCs with stimulus-responsive hydrogel have greatly broaden their functions.…”

“…[9][10][11][12] Especially, the strategies that integrating the PhCs with stimulus-responsive hydrogel have greatly broaden their functions. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In this case, stimulus-responsive hydrogel is utilized to replicate the structure of PhCs array and then hydrogel with vivid structural colors can be obtained. [15][16][17] This hybrid material can shrink and swell according to the stimulus, which causes a shift in the periodicity, leading to the variation of structural color.…”

Highly Conductive Nanograting–Nanohole Structures with Tunable and Dual-Band Spectral Transparency

“…The fabrication of NHs with adjustable structure parameters can be achieved by nanosphere lithography (NSL). 7,19 It is inexpensive and can achieve waferscale production with a large variety of conducting materials.…”

“…Recently there have been increasing interests in designing innovative transparent metallic films (TMFs) for flexible optoelectronic devices because of their inherently high electrical conductivity, optical transparency, mechanical robustness, and cost-competitiveness. , TMFs are perforated thin metallic networks with a low filling ratio that allows light to transmit through . So far, metallic nanostructure arrays, including nanowires, − nanogratings (NGs), , and nanoholes (NHs), − have been reported as promising TMFs. Metallic nanowire TMFs usually show a relatively low conductivity (sheet resistance >10 Ω/sq) ,,, due to the high wire-to-wire junction resistances.…”

“…These NHs have been used in various wavelength regions for different applications, including the ultraviolet region for nonlinear optics, the visible region for touchscreen displays, ,, the near-infrared (NIR) region for medical applications, the terahertz region for imaging, and so on. The fabrication of NHs with adjustable structure parameters can be achieved by nanosphere lithography (NSL). , It is inexpensive and can achieve wafer-scale production with a large variety of conducting materials. Even though the NH TMFs have attracted a lot of attention, they also have two notable shortcomings.…”