Linear thermosensitivity of gel-immobilized tunable colloidal photonic crystals

Abstract

The thermosensitivity of gel-immobilized colloidal photonic crystals can be controlled by changing the mixing ratio of thermosensitive N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and non-thermosensitive N-methylolacrylamide (NMAM) in the gel network. Above an NMAM mole fraction of 0.4, the crystals exhibit linear thermosensitivity, a characteristic that makes them potentially useful in applications such as tunable photonic crystals and temperature sensors.