Easy to Pattern, Chemically Resistant One-Dimensional Polymer Photonic Crystals

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-14-2021

School

Polymer Science and Engineering

Abstract

One-dimensional photonic crystals (1D-PCs) are able to reflect certain wavelengths of light using periodic dielectric layers with mismatched refractive indices. Many polymer and inorganic systems exist for fabricating 1D-PCs, but challenges remain to create a 1D-PC that is stable under harsh chemical conditions. Furthermore, patterning 1D-PCs to provide spatial control of reflected light often requires complicated synthetic and/or processing steps. Herein, we demonstrate a relatively simple and scalable approach to fabricate chemically resistant 1D-PCs from two cheap and commercially available materials, poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene) (PVDF-CTFE) and phenolic resin (resol), in which the reflected wavelengths of the 1D-PC can be simply tuned by adjusting the substrate moving velocity during the dip coating process. The two layers have a naturally high refractive index contrast (Δn ≈ 0.24) and are able to exhibit high stability when exposed to various organic solvents and acidic and basic aqueous solutions. Moreover, significantly different hydrophobicity between the layers offers an easy-to-pattern approach by using a poly(dimethylsiloxane) pad to spatially control the wettability of PVDF-CTFE during a surface functionalization step, thus directing the deposition of the sequential resol layer. We believe this work provides a facile approach for patterning 1D-PCs with tunable reflecting behavior and excellent chemical stability.

Publication Title

ACS Applied Polymer Materials

Volume

3

Issue

5

First Page

2626

Last Page

2634

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