Thermal Responsive Photonic Crystal Achieved through the Control of Light Path Guided by Phase Transition

Responsive photonic crystal is widely considered in the field of anti-counterfeiting and information encryption because of their structural color changes caused by external stimulation. However, the response signal is usually achieved by adjusting the periodic lattice constant based on Bragg's law with volume changes. Thus, it is a great challenge to achieve the response of photonic crystals by non-array parameter control. Herein, novel thermal responsive photonic crystal (TRPC) with low angle dependent structural color is fabricated by introducing poly(ethylene glycol) into the structure of low angle dependent SnO₂ inverse opal. The response is achieved through the control of light path guided by phase transition and the significant volume change caused by the change of traditional array parameters can be effectively avoided. Meanwhile, the low angle dependent structural color of TRPC can effectively reduce the interference of observation angle change to response signal caused by external thermal stimulation. Patterned responsive photonic crystals with temperature gradient response are easily obtained by combining confinement self-assembly and direct template method, and the patterns can be presented and hidden by the control of light path, showing great potential in anti-counterfeiting and information encryption fields.