Bioinspired Thermoresponsive Photonic Polymers with Hierarchical Structures and Their Unique Properties. Issue 19 (14th July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lu, Tao; Zhu, Shenmin; Ma, Jun; Lin, Jinyou; Wang, Wanlin; Pan, Hui; Tian, Feng; Zhang, Wang; Zhang, Di
• Is Part Of: Macromolecular rapid communications. Volume 36:Issue 19(2015:Oct.)
• Page Start: 1722
• Page End: 1728
• Publication Date: 2015-07-14
• Subjects: Macromolecules -- Periodicals; Polymers -- Periodicals; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 547.705
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.201500246
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1022-1336

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Thermoresponsive photonic materials having hierarchical structures are created by combining a template of <italic>Morpho</italic> butterfly wings with poly(<italic>N</italic>‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) through a chemical bonding and polymerization route. These materials show temperature‐induced color tunability. Through reacting with both NIPAM monomers and the amino groups of chitosan in wing scales, glutaraldehyde workes as a bridge by creating chemical bonding between the biotemplate and the PNIPAM. The corresponding reflection peaks red‐shift with increase in temperature—an opposite phenomenon to previous studies, demonstrating a thermoresponsive photonic property. This unique phenomenon is caused by the refractive index change due to the volume change of PNIPAM during the temperature rising. This work sets up an efficient strategy for the fabrication of stimuli‐responsive photonic materials with hierarchical structures toward extensive applications in science and technology. <graphic position="anchor" mimetype="image" xlink:href="ark:/27927/pgk2r4kd3k" orientation="portrait" xlink:type="simple" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" /></p> </abstract>