Rapid Coating of Ultraviolet Shielding Colloidal Crystals

A facile spray coating preparation of ultraviolet (UV) shielding Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) based colloidal photonic crystal (PC) films was presented, where the UV radiation was physically resisted by the periodic structure. The specific wavelength within the UV regime could be tuned as required by varying the size of the monodispersed PMMA colloids. Such crystal coatings could be rapidly prepared in optical glasses with controllable thickness of ~5 μm, which could simultaneously resist UV-254 with the efficiency of 77.43%. The monochromaticity of the crystal coatings ensures their potential in UV shielding materials of direct physical skin contact type.