PNIPAM Brushes in Colloidal Photonic Crystals Enable Ex Situ Ethanol Vapor Sensing.

ABSTRACT: Structural colors are formed by the periodic repetition of nanostructures in a material. Upon reversibly tuning the size or optical properties of the repetitive unit inside a nanostructured material, responsive materials can be made that change color due to external stimuli. This paper presents a simple method to obtain films of ethanol vapor-responsive structural colors based on stacked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)-grafted silica nanoparticles. Our materials show clear, reversible color transitions in the presence of near-saturated ethanol vapor. Moreover, due to the absorption of ethanol in the PNIPAM brushes, relatively long recovery times are observed (∼30 s). Materials based on bare or poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) brush-grafted silica nanoparticles also change color

SUBMITTER: Diepenbroek E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10788857 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature