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Block Copolymers
Confinement
Inverse Photonic Glasses
Self-Assembly
Structural Color
Biocompatibility
Environmental impact
Glass
Grafting (chemical)
Refractive index
Block co polymers
Deconvoluting
Inverse photonic glass
Micro particles
Microplastics
Norbornenes
Optical response
Photonic glass
Self assembly
macrogol
norbornane derivative
plastic
polymer
photon
Norbornanes
Photons
Plastics
Polyethylene Glycols
Polymers
Abstract:
To unlock the widespread use of block copolymers as photonic pigments, there is an urgent need to consider their environmental impact (cf. microplastic pollution). Here we show how an inverse photonic glass architecture can enable the use of biocompatible bottlebrush block copolymers (BBCPs), which otherwise lack the refractive index contrast needed for a strong photonic response. A library of photonic pigments is produced from poly(norbornene-graft-polycaprolactone)-block-poly(norbornene-graft-polyethylene glycol), with the color tuned via either the BBCP molecular weight or the processing temperature upon microparticle fabrication. The structure–optic relationship between the 3D porous morphology of the microparticles and their complex optical response is revealed by both an analytical scattering model and 3D finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulations. Combined, this allows for strategies to enhance the color purity to be proposed and realized with our biocompatible BBCP system. © 2022 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
