Sandwich Approach toward Inverse Opals with Linear and Nonlinear Optical Functionalities

Abstract

Three-dimensionally ordered macroporous materials have unique structural and optical properties, making them useful for numerous applications in catalysis, membrane science, and optics. Accessible and economic fabrication of these materials is essential to fully explore the many possibilities that these materials present. A new templating method to fabricate three-dimensionally ordered macroporous materials without overlayers is presented. The resulting structures are freestanding inverse opals with large-area uniformity. The versatility and power of our fabrication method is demonstrated by synthesizing inverse opals displaying fluorescence, chirality, upconversion, second harmonic generation, and third harmonic generation. This economical and versatile fabrication method will facilitate research on inverse opals in general and on linear and nonlinear optical effects in 3D photonic crystals specifically. The relative ease of synthesis and wide variety of resulting materials will help the characterization and improvement of existing anomalous dispersion effects in these structures, while providing a platform for the discovery and demonstration of novel effects.

Enhanced Second Harmonic Generation from an Organic Self-Assembled Eutectic Binary Mixture: A Case Study with 3-Nitrobenzoic and 3,5-Dinitrobenzoic Acids

“…The 21st century has also been marked by the rapid emergence of metamaterials − and photonic crystals. ,− They both have an artificial periodical structure and have been proposed for use in many applications including SHG. ,− Recently, Pawlak et al , showed the potential of eutectic forming systems as an alternative to metamaterials and photonic crystals. Self-organized eutectic solidification, by its nature, can result in a very interesting spatial distribution of several materials with adequate geometrical motifs, which may afford enhanced electromagnetic properties.…”

Synthesis of Polypyrrole Inverse Opals through an Air–Water Interface Polymerization Method and Their Application in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Consequently, binary IOs without overlayers were obtained. Demeyer et al employed the sandwich approach to obtain freestanding polymer IOs without overlayer for linear and nonlinear optical functions . Wang et al have developed a co‐self‐assembly approach to synthesize crack‐free CCs, during which the formation of overlayer could also be avoided through control of amount of the co‐assembling materials.…”

Two-dimensional inverse opal hydrogel for pH sensing

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Because the periodicity of the colloidal crystal template is on the order of hundreds of nanometers, the resulting highly ordered porous (inverse opal) materials interact with visible light, leading to optical diffraction following Bragg diffraction. [1][2][3][4][5] Because the periodicity of the colloidal crystal template is on the order of hundreds of nanometers, the resulting highly ordered porous (inverse opal) materials interact with visible light, leading to optical diffraction following Bragg diffraction.…”

“…There is great interest in the development of highly ordered porous functional structures through colloidal crystal templating in the elds of optics, chemical sensing, and micro-uidics. [1][2][3][4][5] Because the periodicity of the colloidal crystal template is on the order of hundreds of nanometers, the resulting highly ordered porous (inverse opal) materials interact with visible light, leading to optical diffraction following Bragg diffraction. [6][7][8] Inverse opal hydrogel structures are especially attractive because a hydrogel may swell or shrink in aqueous solution upon physical and chemical stimuli by changing its dimensions, which leads to spectral shis in the Bragg diffraction wavelength and structural color change.…”