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Controlling Thermochromism in a Photonic Block Copolymer Gel
Author(s) -
Walish Joseph J.,
Fan Yin,
Centrone Andrea,
Thomas Edwin L.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201200355
Subject(s) - thermochromism , copolymer , materials science , photonics , nanotechnology , block (permutation group theory) , optoelectronics , polymer , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , geometry , mathematics
The tunable properties of stimulus‐responsive materials attract great interest in a variety of technological applications. Photonic gels are a new class of these materials, which can be tuned to reflect different wavelengths of light. Controlling this reflected color via temperature‐induced changes of self‐assembled photonic materials is important for their application in sensors and displays. In this work, the thermochromic behavior of a PS–P2VP photonic gel was found to originate from a temperature‐induced change in the p K a of the P2VP blocks. Control was obtained through the manipulation of the solution pH. The findings of this work provide the basis for understanding and controlling the properties of thermochromic block copolymers fostering their use in technologically relevant applications.