Photonic materials have attracted significant interest over the past decade for their potential to replace conventional inorganic pigments in paints and coatings. In particular, bottlebrush block copolymers (BBCPs) have been proven effective in fabricating photonic materials due to their capability to self-assemble into periodic structures on the scale of the wavelength of visible light. Compared with other fabrication approaches for photonic materials, BBCPs have advantages such as rapid assembly kinetics, macroscopic ordering of the self-assembled structures, and tolerance to a high loading of functional additives.<br/>Here, we will present photonic microparticles (“pigments”) with a concentric lamellar order, prepared via the confined self-assembly of BBCPs within microfluidic droplets. By selecting blocks and combining them with UV-crosslinking, elastomeric BBCP photonic pigments could be obtained that can reversibly deform upon application of pressure. During this process the lamellar nanoarchitecture is maintained, but compressed, resulting in a blueshift of the reflected color. Such pigments have the potential to be deployed into coatings as ultrasensitive piezochromic sensors.

Piezochromic photonic materials for ultrasensitive pressure detection

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