Advances in Functional Solution Processed Planar 1D Photonic Crystals

An overview on the properties and applications of polymer and inorganic planar 1D photonic crystals fabricated from solution is provided here. In the last decades, photonic crystals became technologically relevant for light management, photovoltaics, sensing, and lasing. Such structures are traditionally produced by lithographic and vacuum techniques, but the need to reduce costs and to scale‐up the fabrication have lead the research toward new materials, simplified structures, and low‐cost mass scale growth processes. In this regard, polymer and inorganic mesoporous distributed Bragg reflectors fabricated from solution attracted considerable technological interest. This review focuses on the properties of such structures, concentrating on state‐of‐the‐art fabrication and applications.