Vasantha, V. A.; Rusli, W.; Chen, J. H.; Zhao, W. G.; Sreekanth, K. V.; Singh, R.; Parthiban, A., Highly monodisperse zwitterion functionalized non-spherical polymer particles with tunable iridescence. RSC Advances 2019, 9 (47), 27199-27207.
Abstract:
A facile and simple synthetic route towards functionalized non-spherical polymer particles (NSP) with tunable morphologies and iridescence is presented. Monodisperse particles with unique zwitterionic functionality were synthesized via emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization in a single step process. The sulfobetaine comonomer was utilized to induce phase separation in the course of polymerization to achieve anisotropic NSP with controlled morphologies such as quasi-spherical with protruding structures like bulge, eye-ball, and snowman-like nanostructures. Both SEM and TEM analyses revealed anisotropic particles, and phase-separated protrusion morphology with a small increase in aspect ratio. By taking advantage of the monodisperse, colloidally stable NSPs, template free photonic crystal arrays were fabricated through a bottom-up approach. The particles readily self-assemble and exhibit a photonic bandgap with vivid structural colors that arise from ordered structures of different morphologies. Additionally, the salt-responsive photonic crystals also possess tunable color-changing characteristics.
License type:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Funding Info:
This work was supported by the PHAROS - Advanced Surfaces Programme of Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) (Grant no.: 1523700105).