Brilliant Coloured Monochromatic Photonic Crystals Films Generation from Poly (Styrene-Butyl Acrylate-Acrylic Acid) Latex

A one-pot synthetic procedure was successfully used to synthesize monodispersed poly (styrene-butyl acrylate-acrylic acid) (P (St-BA-AA)) colloidal spheres via emulsion polymerization. A glass transition temperature (Tg) of 108 o C was obtained by DSC analysis. Core-shell morphology was revealed by TEM micrograph. Evaporative induced self-assembly process was used to fabricate photonic crystals from the as-synthesized P (St-BA-AA) latexes. Microscopic analyses of the fabricated photonic crystal films revealed the assembling of colloidal particles which rearranged into a fascinating compact three-dimensional periodic hexagonal structure with manifold layer arrangement. The photonic crystal films displayed mesmerizing monochromatic yellow, blue and green colours which were obtained by controlling the size of the microspheres. The prospect of deliberately obtaining photonic crystals with monochromatic colours would be very useful in the generation of photonic crystals for sensing application. Keywords: poly (styrene-butyl-acrylate-acrylic acid); photonic crystals; ter-polymer; monochromatic