Bio-inspired thermal-responsive inverse opal films with dual structural colors based on liquid crystal elastomer

Abstract

We have developed a bio-inspired thermal-responsive micropatterned inverse opal film with dual structural colors based on liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). Herein, inverse opal films are fabricated by infiltrating the LC precursor into silica opal photonic crystal templates followed by UV irradiation and then removing the silica spheres. Furthermore, the micropatterned inverse opal films with dual structural colors have been fabricated by a two-step photo-polymerization technique combining a DC electric field. The DC electric field is used to tune the lattice space of the silica opal templates at the second photo-polymerization stage. In addition, the photonic band gaps of the LCE inverse opal films with dual structural colors can be reversibly switched by temperature because of the thermally induced molecular orientation change of the LCEs. This approach to create bi-colored inverse opals with micropatterns opens up a new way to the development of display and photonic applications.