Photonic crystal gas sensors based on metal-organic frameworks and polymers

A photonic crystal (PC) is an optical microstructure with an adjustable dielectric constant. The PC sensor was deemed a powerful tool for gas molecule detection due to its excellent sensitivity, stability, online use and tailorable optical performance. The detection signals are generated by monitoring the changes of the photonic band gap when the sensing behavior occurs. Recently, many efforts have been devoted to improving the PC sensor's detection performance and reducing technical costs by selecting and refining functional materials. In this case, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with a large specific surface, tunable structural properties and polymers with unique swelling properties have attracted increasingly attention. In this review, a systematic review of PC gas sensors based on MOFs and polymers was carried out for the first time. Firstly, the optical properties and gas sensing mechanism of PCs were briefly summarized. Secondly, a detailed discussion of the structural properties and rapid preparation methods of distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), opals and inverse opals (IOPCs) was presented. Thirdly, the recent advances in MOF, polymer and MOF/polymer-based PC sensors over the past few years were summarized. It should be noted that the sensitivity and selectivity enhancement strategy by appropriate material species selection, organic ligand functionalization, metal-ion doping, diverse functional material arrays, and multi-component compounding were analyzed in detail. Finally, prospects on PC gas sensors are given in terms of preparation methods, material functionalization and future applications.

Hydrogel-Based Biosensors

There is an increasing interest in sensing applications for a variety of analytes in aqueous environments, as conventional methods do not work reliably under humid conditions or they require complex equipment with experienced operators. Hydrogel sensors are easy to fabricate, are incredibly sensitive, and have broad dynamic ranges. Experiments on their robustness, reliability, and reusability have indicated the possible long-term applications of these systems in a variety of fields, including disease diagnosis, detection of pharmaceuticals, and in environmental testing. It is possible to produce hydrogels, which, upon sensing a specific analyte, can adsorb it onto their 3D-structure and can therefore be used to remove them from a given environment. High specificity can be obtained by using molecularly imprinted polymers. Typical detection principles involve optical methods including fluorescence and chemiluminescence, and volume changes in colloidal photonic crystals, as well as electrochemical methods. Here, we explore the current research utilizing hydrogel-based sensors in three main areas: (1) biomedical applications, (2) for detecting and quantifying pharmaceuticals of interest, and (3) detecting and quantifying environmental contaminants in aqueous environments.

Optical Indicators based on Structural Colored Polymers

Polymer indicators are autonomous responsive materials that provide an optical signal of a specific exposure in time. This review describes the different polymer systems utilized to obtain indicators based on structural color. Structural color originates from the interaction of light with a periodic nanostructured polymer which causes a specific wavelength to be reflected. This reflected light can be used for fabricating battery-free indicators that show visible structural color changes upon exposure to a stimulus or analyte. In this review, the typical structural color response types categorized by stimulus are discussed and compared. Furthermore, the steps toward possible applications of optical indicators based on structural colored polymers are outlined.

Fabrication of inverse opal photonic gel sensors on flexible substrates by transfer process

We demonstrate a platform technology for transferring opal films and photonic gel films to flexible substrates. The conventional fabrication procedure for inverse opal photonic gel (IOPG) sensors comprises three major steps: 1) the self-assembly of polystyrene μ-spheres to an opal template film within a channel between the top and bottom substrates, 2) infiltration and photo-polymerisation of the monomer mixture, and 3) etching of the opal template. Owing to the low processing yield of the first step, it is difficult to fabricate multiple sensor arrays on a single substrate. In this study, an opal film is formed between two substrates with different surface polarities, and the film is separated by disassembling the two substrates. The opal film on a medium polar substrate is covered using a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, and opal-templated photo-polymerisation is performed. Finally, the photonic gel with the opal template is transferred to the PET film, and the opal template is etched out. Using the platform technique, the fabrications of pH-responsive IOPG and temperature-responsive IOPG sensors on PET films are respectively demonstrated. In addition, the IOPG containing the copolymer of acrylamide and 3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid was found to be responsive to glucose at physiological pH. All three sensors were fabricated using the same transfer method, differing only in the composition of monomer mixtures, and they all showed excellent sensitivity and repeatability on PET substrates. Due to the advantageous feature of the transfer method, dual sensors of pH-responsive IOPG and temperature-responsive IOPG were sequentially fabricated on a single PET film.

Large-Area Virus Coated Ultrathin Colorimetric Sensors with a Highly Lossy Resonant Promoter for Enhanced Chromaticity

Acclimatable colors in response to environmental stimuli, which are naturally endowed with some living things, can provide an opportunity for humans to recognize hazardous substances without taking empirical risks. Despite efforts to create artificial responsive colors, realistic applications in everyday life require an immediate/distinct colorimetric realization with wide chromatic selectivity. A dynamically responsive virus (M-13 phage)-based changeable coloring strategy is presented with a highly lossy resonant promoter (HLRP). An ultrathin M-13 phage layer for rapid response to external stimuli displays colorimetric behavior, even in its subtle swelling with strong resonances on HLRP, which is modeled using the complex effective refractive index. Optimal designs of HLRP for several material combinations allow selective chromatic responsivity from the corresponding wide color palette without modification of the dynamic responsive layer. As a practical demonstration, the spatially designed colorimetric indicator, which is insensitive/sensitive to external stimuli, provides an intuitive perception of environmental changes with hidden/revealed patterns. Furthermore, the proposed colorimetric sensor is tested by exposure to various volatile organic chemicals and endocrine disrupting chemicals for versatile detectability, and is fabricated in a wafer-scale sample for large-area scalability.

Structural Color Materials for Optical Anticounterfeiting

The counterfeiting of goods is growing worldwide, affecting practically any marketable item ranging from consumer goods to human health. Anticounterfeiting is essential for authentication, currency, and security. Anticounterfeiting tags based on structural color materials have enjoyed worldwide and long-term commercial success due to their inexpensive production and exceptional ease of percept. However, conventional anticounterfeiting tags of holographic gratings can be readily copied or imitated. Much progress has been made recently to overcome this limitation by employing sufficient complexity and stimuli-responsive ability into the structural color materials. Moreover, traditional processing methods of structural color tags are mainly based on photolithography and nanoimprinting, while new processing methods such as the inkless printing and additive manufacturing have been developed, enabling massive scale up fabrication of novel structural color security engineering. This review presents recent breakthroughs in structural color materials, and their applications in optical encryption and anticounterfeiting are discussed in detail. Special attention is given to the unique structures for optical anticounterfeiting techniques and their optical aspects for encryption. Finally, emerging research directions and current challenges in optical encryption technologies using structural color materials is presented.

Functional Micro–Nano Structure with Variable Colour: Applications for Anti-Counterfeiting

Colour patterns based on micro-nano structure have attracted enormous research interests due to unique optical switches and smart surface applications in photonic crystal, superhydrophobic surface modification, controlled adhesion, inkjet printing, biological detection, supramolecular self-assembly, anti-counterfeiting, optical device and other fields. In traditional methods, many patterns of micro-nano structure are derived from changes of refractive index or lattice parameters. Generally, the refractive index and lattice parameters of photonic crystals are processed by common solvents, salts or reactive monomers under specific electric, magnetic and stress conditions. This review focuses on the recent developments in the fabrication of micro-nano structures for patterns including styles, materials, methods and characteristics. It summarized the advantages and disadvantages of inkjet printing, angle-independent photonic crystal, self-assembled photonic crystals by magnetic field force, gravity, electric field, inverse opal photonic crystal, electron beam etching, ion beam etching, laser holographic lithography, imprinting technology and surface wrinkle technology, etc. This review will provide a summary on designing micro-nano patterns and details on patterns composed of photonic crystals by surface wrinkles technology and plasmonic micro-nano technology. In addition, colour patterns as switches are fabricated with good stability and reproducibility in anti-counterfeiting application. Finally, there will be a conclusion and an outlook on future perspectives.

Bimodal detection of carbon dioxide using fluorescent molecular aggregates

Fluorescent aggregates of a cyano-substituted phenylenevinylene derivative (R-1) have been used as a bimodal probe for the easy and fast detection of CO₂.

Achieving Color and Function with Structure: Optical and Catalytic Support Properties of ZrO2 Inverse Opal Thin Films

Taking inspiration from natural photonic crystal architectures, we report herein the successful fabrication of zirconia inverse opal (ZrO₂ IO) thin-film photonic crystals possessing striking iridescence at visible wavelengths. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) colloidal crystal thin films (synthetic opals) were first deposited on glass microscope slides, after which the interstitial voids in the films were filled with a Zr(IV) sol. Controlled calcination of the resulting composite films yielded iridescent ZrO₂ IO thin films with pseudo photonic band gaps (PBGs) along the surface normal at visible wavelengths. The PBG position was dependent on the macropore diameter (D) in the inverse opals (and thus proportional to the diameter of the PMMA colloids in the sacrificial templates), the incident angle of light with respect to the surface normal (θ), and also the refractive index of the medium filling the macropores, all of which were accurately described by a modified Bragg's law expression. Au/ZrO₂ IO catalysts prepared using the ZrO₂ IO films demonstrated outstanding performance for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in the presence of NaBH₄, which can be attributed to the interconnected macroporosity in the films, which afforded a high Au nanoparticle dispersion and also facile diffusion of 4-nitrophenol to the catalytically active Au sites.

Colorimetric Humidity Sensor Using Inverse Opal Photonic Gel in Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid

We demonstrate a fast response colorimetric humidity sensor using a crosslinked poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) in the form of inverse opal photonic gel (IOPG) soaked in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM⁺][BF₄−]), a non-volatile hydrophilic room temperature ionic liquid (IL). An evaporative colloidal assembly enabled the fabrication of highly crystalline opal template, and a subsequent photopolymerization of PHEMA followed by solvent-etching and final soaking in IL produced a humidity-responsive IOPG showing highly reflective structural color by Bragg diffraction. Three IOPG sensors with different crosslinking density were fabricated on a single chip, where a lightly crosslinked IOPG exhibited the color change response over entire visible spectrum with respect to the humidity changes from 0 to 80% RH. As the water content increased in IL, thermodynamic interactions between PHEMA and [BMIM⁺][BF₄−] became more favorable, to show a red-shifted structural color owing to a longitudinal swelling of IOPG. Highly porous IO structure enabled fast humidity-sensing kinetics with the response times of ~1 min for both swelling and deswelling. Temperature-dependent swelling of PHEMA in [BMIM⁺][BF₄−] revealed that the current system follows an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) behavior with the diffraction wavelength change as small as 1% at the temperature changes from 10 °C to 30 °C.

Visual and reversible carbon dioxide sensing enabled by doctor blade coated macroporous photonic crystals

With significant impacts of carbon dioxide on global climate change, carbon dioxide sensing is of great importance. However, most of the existing sensing technologies are prone to interferences from carbon monoxide, or suffer from the use of sophisticated instruments. This research reports the development of reproducible carbon dioxide sensor using roll-to-roll compatible doctor blade coated three-dimensional macroporous photonic crystals. The pores are functionalized with amine groups to allow the reaction with carbon dioxide in the presence of humidity. The adsorption of carbon dioxide leads to red-shift and amplitude reduction of the optical stop bands, resulting in carbon dioxide detection with visible readout. The dependences of the diffraction wavelength on carbon dioxide partial pressure for various amine-functionalized photonic crystals and different humidities in the environment are systematically investigated. In addition, the reproducibility of carbon dioxide sensing has also been demonstrated in this research.

Microscale Liquid Transport in Polycrystalline Inverse Opals across Grain Boundaries

Delivering liquid through the void spaces in porous metals is a daunting challenge for a variety of emerging interface technologies ranging from battery electrodes to evaporation surfaces. Hydraulic transport characteristics of well-ordered porous media are governed by the pore distribution, porosity, and morphology. Much like energy transport in polycrystalline solids, hydraulic transport in semi-ordered porous media is predominantly limited by defects and grain boundaries. Here, we report the wicking performances for porous copper inverse opals having pore diameters from 300 to 1000 nm by measuring the capillary-driven liquid rise. The capillary performance parameter within single crystal domain (K_ij/R_eff = 10⁻³ to 10⁻² µm) is an order of magnitude greater than the collective polycrystal (K_eff/R_eff = ~10⁻⁵ to 10⁻³ µm) due to the hydraulic resistances (i.e. grain boundaries between individual grains). Inspired by the heterogeneity found in biological systems, we report that the capillary performance parameter of gradient porous copper (K_eff/R_eff = ~10⁻³ µm), comparable to that of single crystals, overcomes hydraulic resistances through providing additional hydraulic routes in three dimensions. The understanding of microscopic liquid transport physics through porous crystals and across grain boundaries will help to pave the way for the spatial design of next-generation heterogeneous porous media.

Photonic Devices Out of Equilibrium: Transient Memory, Signal Propagation, and Sensing

Soft photonic materials are important for sensors, displays, or energy management and have become switchable under static equilibrium conditions by integration of responsive polymer features. The next step is to equip such materials with the ability for autonomously dynamic and self-regulating behavior, which would advance their functionality and application possibilities to new levels. Here, this study shows the system integration of a nonlinear, biocatalytic pH-feedback system with a pH-responsive block copolymer photonic gel, and demonstrates autonomous transient memories, remotely controlled signal propagation, and sensing. This study utilizes an enzymatic switch to program the lifetime of the reflective state of a photonic gel, and induces propagation of pH-waves extinguishable by illumination with UV-light. The described combination of nonlinear chemistry and responsive photonic gels opens pathways toward out-of-equilibrium photonic devices with active and autonomous behavior useful for sensing, computation, and communication.

Gas Sensor Based on 3-D WO₃ Inverse Opal: Design and Applications

A three-dimensional inverse opal (3DIO) WO₃ architecture has been synthesized via a simple sacrificial template method. Morphology features of the 3DIO were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and its structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The shrinking ratio of the PMMA spheres was ~28.2% through measuring the distribution of the PMMA spheres and 3DIO WO₃ center-to-center distance between the spheres and macropores, respectively. Beyond that, the 3DIO gas sensing properties were investigated systematically and the sensing mechanism of 3DIO WO₃ was proposed. The results indicated that the response of the 3DIO sensor possessed excellent sensitivity to acetone gas, especially at trace levels. The 3DIO gas sensor response was ~7 to 5 ppm of acetone and could detect acetone low to 0.2 ppm effectively, which was in close proximity to the theoretical low detection limit of 0.14 ppm when R_a/R_g ≥ 1.2 was used as the criterion for reliable gas sensing. All in all, the obvious satisfaction of the gas-sensing properties was ascribed to the structure of the 3DIO, and the sensor could be a promising novel device in the future.

Multiple Colors Output on Voile through 3D Colloidal Crystals with Robust Mechanical Properties

Distinguished from the chromatic mechanism of dyes and pigments, structural color is derived from physical interactions of visible light with structures that are periodic at the scale of the wavelength of light. Using colloidal crystals with coloring functions for fabrics has resulted in significant improvements compared with chemical colors because the structural color from colloidal crystals bears many unique and fascinating optical properties, such as vivid iridescence and nonphotobleaching. However, the poor mechanical performance of the structural color films cannot meet actual requirements because of the weak point contact of colloidal crystal particles. Herein, we demonstrate in this study the patterning on voile fabrics with high mechanical strength on account of the periodic array lock effect of polymers, and multiple structural color output was simultaneously achieved by a simple two-phase self-assembly method for printing voile fabrics with 3D colloidal crystals. The colored voile fabrics exhibit high color saturation, good mechanical stability, and multiple-color patterns printable. In addition, colloidal crystals are promising potential substitutes for organic dyes and pigments because colloidal crystals are environmentally friendly.

Colorimetric gas detection by the varying thickness of a thin film of ultrasmall PTSA-coated TiO2 nanoparticles on a Si substrate

Colorimetric gas sensing is demonstrated by thin films based on ultrasmall TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) on Si substrates. The NPs are bound into the film by p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA) and the film is made to absorb volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Since the color of the sensing element depends on the interference of reflected light from the surface of the film and from the film/silicon substrate interface, colorimetric detection is possible by the varying thickness of the NP-based film. Indeed, VOC absorption causes significant swelling of the film. Thus, the optical path length is increased, interference wavelengths are shifted and the refractive index of the film is decreased. This causes a change of color of the sensor element visible by the naked eye. The color response is rapid and changes reversibly within seconds of exposure. The sensing element is extremely simple and cheap, and can be fabricated by common coating processes.

Plasmonic nanoparticles tuned thermal sensitive photonic polymer for biomimetic chameleon

Among many thermo-photochromic materials, the color-changing behavior caused by temperature and light is usually lack of a full color response. And the study on visible light-stimuli chromic response is rarely reported. Here, we proposed a strategy to design a thermo-photochromic chameleon biomimetic material consisting of photonic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-methacrylic acid) copolymer and plasmonic nanoparticles which has a vivid color change triggered by temperature and light like chameleons. We make use of the plasmonic nanoparticles like gold nanoparticles and silver nanoparticles to increase the sensitivity of the responsive behavior and control the lower critical solution temperature of the thermosensitive films by tuning the polymer chain conformation transition. Finally, it is possible that this film would have colorimetric responses to the entire VIS spectrum by the addition of different plasmonic nanoparticles to tune the plasmonic excitation wavelength. As a result, this method provides a potential use in new biosensors, military and many other aspects.

Three-dimensional In2O3–CuO inverse opals: synthesis and improved gas sensing properties towards acetone

Specific three-dimensional inverse opal (3DIO) In₂O₃–CuO architecture with additional via-holes was first prepared by a simple sacrificial template method.

A colloidoscope of colloid-based porous materials and their uses

Colloids assemble into a variety of bioinspired structures for applications including optics, wetting, sensing, catalysis, and electrodes.

Imprinted photonic hydrogel pillar for self-reporting water treatment of heavy metal ions

In this work we synthesized a self-reporting water absorbent for heavy metal ions by assembling photonic crystals (PC) with imprinted hydrogel pillars.

Co-deposition motif for constructing inverse opal photonic crystals with pH sensing

An exfoliated polyacrylamide (PAM) inverse opal film has been fabricated based on a co-deposition motif.

A visual and organic vapor sensitive photonic crystal sensor consisting of polymer-infiltrated SiO2 inverse opal

Tetraphenylethene polymer-infiltrated SiO₂ inverse opal can detect tetrahydrofuran/acetones vapors according to the color change, which is resulted from the adsorption–desorption of vapors.

Patterned one-dimensional photonic crystals with acidic/alkali vapor responsivity

This communication demonstrates a simple method to detect acidic/alkali vapor by the naked eye through color changes based on patterned responsive one-dimensional photonic crystals.

Multiple band light trapping in ultraviolet, visible and near infrared regions with TiO2 based photonic materials

TiO₂ based photonic materials demonstrated multiple band light trapping activity in ultraviolet, visible and near infrared regions.