Revealing Invisible Photonic Inscriptions: Images from Strain

摘要

Photonic structural materials have received intensive interest and have been strongly developed over the past few years for image displays, sensing, and anticounterfeit materials. Their smartness arises from their color responsivity to changes of environment, strain, or external fields. Here, we introduce a novel invisible photonic system that reveals encrypted images or characters by simply stretching, or immersing in solvents. This type of intriguing photonic material is composed of regularly arranged core-shell particles that are selectively cross-linked by UV irradiation, giving different strain response compared to un-cross-linked regions. The images reversibly appear and disappear when cycling the strain and releasing it. The unique advantages of this soft polymer opal system compared with other types of photonic gels are that it can be produced in roll to roll quantities, can be vigorously deformed to achieve strong color changes, and has no solvent evaporation issues because it is a photonic rubber system. We demonstrate potential applications together with a fabrication procedure which is straightforward and scalable, vital for user take-up. Our work deepens understanding of this rubbery photonic system based on core-shell nanospheres.

出版物
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2015, 7 (24), 13497–13502
赵其斌
赵其斌
副教授

我的研究关注软功能材料中的介观结构调控及其光学、热学与力学功能。我们以胶体、颗粒组装和聚合物复合体系为主要材料平台,研究剪切、弯曲、拉伸和循环形变等外部力学场如何驱动微结构重排、结晶、晶格转变与取向选择,并进一步调控材料的结构色、光谱响应、热辐射特性和力学响应。通过将软物质物理、可规模化加工和结构—性能分析相结合,研究旨在发展可编程软光子材料与功能涂层,为自适应光学表面、光热调控、传感和机械编码材料提供新的设计思路.