Opaline Photonic Crystals: How Does Self‐Assembly Work?

Norris, David J.; Arlinghaus, Erin G.; Meng, Linli; Heiny, Ruth; Scriven, L. E.

doi:10.1002/adma.200400455

Cited by 405 publications

(356 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…Within this review, we focus on material and design aspects rather than colloidal physics, which has been exhaustively discussed elsewhere. [91][92][93][94] Figure 4. Overview of types of patterned structures that can be created from colloidal self-assembly processes.…”

Section: (D) Multiple Porositiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A colloidoscope of colloid-based porous materials and their uses

et al. 2016

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Nature evolved a variety of hierarchical structures that produce sophisticated functions. Inspired by these natural materials, colloidal self-assembly provides a convenient way to produce structures from simple building blocks with a variety of complex functions beyond those found in nature. In particular, colloid-based porous materials (CBPM) can be made from a wide variety of materials. The internal structure of CBPM also has several key attributes, namely porosity on a sub-micrometer length scale, interconnectivity of these pores, and a controllable degree of order. The combination of structure and composition allow CBPM to attain properties important for modern applications such as photonic inks, colorimetric sensors, self-cleaning surfaces, water purification systems, or batteries. This review summarizes recent developments in the field of CBPM, including principles for their design, fabrication, and applications, with a particular focus on structural features and materials' properties that enable these applications. We begin with a short introduction to the wide variety of patterns that can be generated by colloidal self-assembly and templating processes. We then discuss different applications of such structures, focusing on optics, wetting, sensing, catalysis, and electrodes. Different fields of applications require different properties, yet the modularity of the assembly process of CBPM provides a high degree of tunability and tailorability in composition and structure. We examine the significance of properties such as structure, composition, and degree of order on the materials' functions and use, as well as trends in and future directions for the development of CBPM.

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Section: (D) Multiple Porositiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A colloidoscope of colloid-based porous materials and their uses

et al. 2016

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“…Also, sol-gel silicates have been added as a temporary "glue" for SiO 2 colloids (41). Our approach goes beyond the coassembly of binary colloidal mixtures or a combination of supramolecular and colloidal self-assembly, and relies on polymer colloids [e.g., polystyrene (PS) or poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)] assembling in a broad range of sol-gel precursor solutions (e.g., M OH 4 ð Þ, M ¼ Si, Ti, Ge) through an evaporative deposition (18,19,42), to form a large-area, defect-free composite opal film. In particular, when PMMA spheres are deposited from a hydrolyzed tetraethoxy silane (TEOS) solution, the resulting structure contains silica gel matrix material, distributed uniformly in the interstitial spaces of the polymeric opal film that, upon firing, yields a high-quality inverse opal silica structure (herein abbreviated as I-SiO 2 ) ordered over a cm length scale.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembly of large-area, highly ordered, crack-free inverse opal films

Hatton

Mishchenko

Davis

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

503

578

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Whereas considerable interest exists in self-assembly of well-ordered, porous “inverse opal” structures for optical, electronic, and (bio)chemical applications, uncontrolled defect formation has limited the scale-up and practicality of such approaches. Here we demonstrate a new method for assembling highly ordered, crack-free inverse opal films over a centimeter scale. Multilayered composite colloidal crystal films have been generated via evaporative deposition of polymeric colloidal spheres suspended within a hydrolyzed silicate sol-gel precursor solution. The coassembly of a sacrificial colloidal template with a matrix material avoids the need for liquid infiltration into the preassembled colloidal crystal and minimizes the associated cracking and inhomogeneities of the resulting inverse opal films. We discuss the underlying mechanisms that may account for the formation of large-area defect-free films, their unique preferential growth along the 〈110〉 direction and unusual fracture behavior. We demonstrate that this coassembly approach allows the fabrication of hierarchical structures not achievable by conventional methods, such as multilayered films and deposition onto patterned or curved surfaces. These robust SiO 2 inverse opals can be transformed into various materials that retain the morphology and order of the original films, as exemplified by the reactive conversion into Si or TiO 2 replicas. We show that colloidal coassembly is available for a range of organometallic sol-gel and polymer matrix precursors, and represents a simple, low-cost, scalable method for generating high-quality, chemically tailorable inverse opal films for a variety of applications.

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“…On the other hand, crystal planes oriented on the substrate induce monochromatic structural color in colloidal crystal films. Simple preparation techniques based on convective self-assembly have been developed and are widely used in this research field [64][65][66]. Figure 4(C) shows a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of close-packed polystyrene (PS) colloids on a silicon wafer.…”

Section: Crystalline Diffractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tunable structural color in organisms and photonic materials for design of bioinspired materials

Fudouzi

2011

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials

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In this paper, the key topics of tunable structural color in biology and material science are overviewed. Color in biology is considered for selected groups of tropical fish, octopus, squid and beetle. It is caused by nanoplates in iridophores and varies with their spacing, tilting angle and refractive index. These examples may provide valuable hints for the bioinspired design of photonic materials. 1D multilayer films and 3D colloidal crystals with tunable structural color are overviewed from the viewpoint of advanced materials. The tunability of structural color by swelling and strain is demonstrated on an example of opal composites.

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Opaline Photonic Crystals: How Does Self‐Assembly Work?

Cited by 405 publications

References 110 publications

A colloidoscope of colloid-based porous materials and their uses

A colloidoscope of colloid-based porous materials and their uses

Assembly of large-area, highly ordered, crack-free inverse opal films

Tunable structural color in organisms and photonic materials for design of bioinspired materials

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