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Biomimetic Chiral Photonic Crystals
Author(s) -
Lv Jiawei,
Ding Defang,
Yang Xuekang,
Hou Ke,
Miao Xiang,
Wang Dawei,
Kou Baichuan,
Huang Ling,
Tang Zhiyong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201903264
Subject(s) - structural coloration , polarizer , photonic crystal , iridescence , materials science , nanoscopic scale , chirality (physics) , nanotechnology , nanostructure , photonics , luminescence , biomimetics , circular polarization , optoelectronics , optics , chiral symmetry , physics , birefringence , quark , microstrip , quantum mechanics , nambu–jona lasinio model
Although it is well known that the amazing iridescent colors of the cuticle of beetles reflect the intricate nanoscale organization of bio‐fibers, artificial inorganic materials with comparable optical responses have not yet been synthesized from abiotic nanoscale building blocks. Such materials could find broad applications, including in circular polarizers, to generate circularly polarized luminescence, or in lasers. Herein, we describe a general method for the fabrication of biomimetic chiral photonic crystals by Langmuir–Schaefer assembly of colloidal inorganic nanowires. We not only reproduced the intricate helical structure and circularly polarized color reflection observed in beetles, but also achieved the highest chiroptical activity with a dissymmetry factor of −1.6 ever reported for chiral inorganic nanostructures. More importantly, the programmable structural control based on the precise interlayer arrangement endows us with unprecedented freedom to manipulate the optical activity of as‐fabricated chiral photonic crystals.