Sunghwan Kim and co-workers demonstrated the controlled fabrication of a silk inverse opal (SIO), a type of photonic crystal, from fibroin, a silk-derived protein that meets all the criteria for sustainability. The extracted fibroin solution is poured over a self-assembled colloidal crystal of close-packed poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) spheres and left to dry. The PMMA is then dissolved, leaving an inverse lattice of fibroin. The periodic variation of the refractive index between the lattice and the voids imparts structural color to the crystal. Kim and co-researchers control the color of the SIOs, both by varying the size of the PMMA spheres and by filling the voids with acetone. They then irradiate their samples with white light, and observe that the color of their crystals changes according to the specified optogeometric parameters.
Photonic crystals: Sustainable sensors from silk
Rosei F.
2013-01-01
Abstract
Sunghwan Kim and co-workers demonstrated the controlled fabrication of a silk inverse opal (SIO), a type of photonic crystal, from fibroin, a silk-derived protein that meets all the criteria for sustainability. The extracted fibroin solution is poured over a self-assembled colloidal crystal of close-packed poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) spheres and left to dry. The PMMA is then dissolved, leaving an inverse lattice of fibroin. The periodic variation of the refractive index between the lattice and the voids imparts structural color to the crystal. Kim and co-researchers control the color of the SIOs, both by varying the size of the PMMA spheres and by filling the voids with acetone. They then irradiate their samples with white light, and observe that the color of their crystals changes according to the specified optogeometric parameters.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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