The natural occurrence of precious opals, consisting of highly organized silica particles, has prompted interest in the synthesis and formation of these structures. Previous research has shown that a highly organized photonic crystal (PhC) array is only possible when it is based on a low polydispersity index (PDI) sample of particles. In this study, a solvent-only variation method is used to synthesize different sizes of silica particles (SiPs) by following the traditional sol-gel Stöber approach. The controlled rate of the addition of the reagents promoted the homogeneity of the nucleation and growth of the spherical silica particles, which in turn yielded a low PDI. The opalescent PhC were obtained via self-assembly of these particles using a solvent evaporation method. Analysis of the spatial statistics, using Voronoi tessellations, pair correlation functions, and bond order analysis showed that the successfully formed arrays showed a high degree of quasi-hexagonal (hexatic) organization, with both global and local order. Highly organized PhC show potential for developing future materials with tunable structural reflective properties, such as solar cells, sensing materials, and coatings, among others.
The combination of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and inverse opals (IO) have been a point of interest in the past few years due to their potential in sensing applications. At the same time, peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a stable analogue to natural occurring genetic material. In this study, we describe the preparation and characterization of a PNA imprinted matrix, based on the controlled self-assembly of organized silica particles (SiPs) arrays. The degree of organization of the silica arrays are compared to the organization of the cavities after the removal of the SiPs, using spatial statistical analysis. This analysis of the Voronoi tessellations, pair correlation functions and bond order showed that the successfully formed arrays contain a high degree of quasi-hexagonal (hexatic) organization of the cavities, with both global and local order. The adsorption analysis of the materials show potential for developing future materials with tunable structural reflective properties, such as on-site, color- changing genetic material sensor. Graphical abstract
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