Periodic microstructures are important in terms of photonic applications, which involve reflection of specific wavelengths of visible light. Self-assembly is a simple technique and a good alternative to complex and expensive lithographic methods used in the production of photonic materials. Co-assembly is a newly introduced technique that involves the simultaneous assembly of the colloids and the filling of the interstitial sites by a sol-gel precursor (such as tetraethyl orthosilicate). The self “healing” ability of this technique allows for the fabrication of defect free inverse opal structures. We have successfully used co-assembly to fabricate inverse opal structures with voids of different sizes ranging from 283.5 nm to 430.7 nm. This was accomplished by tuning the size of the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)  colloids using emulsion polymerization. Co-assembly, of the PMMA colloids with the tetraethyl orthosilicate allowed for the fine-tuning of the stop band of the inverse opal structures in the spectral range from 400 nm to 900 nm.<br/>

Fabrication of inverse opal films with stop bands in the full spectral range of visible light using co-assembly technique

249th National Meeting (2015)

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