Exploration of the Structures of the Magnetically Induced Self-Assembly Photonic Crystals in a Solidified Polymer Matrix

The carbon-encapsulated superparamagnetic colloidal nanoparticles (SCNps) were rigidized into soft solids by embedding the SCNps into polyacrylamide hydrogel matrixes under the induction of an external magnetic field. Stabilized by the balance of attractive (magnetic) and repulsive (electrostatic) forces, the SCNps form one-dimension photonic crystal structures along the direction of the external magnetic field and further the structures are frozen into the solidified polymer matrix. The polymer matrix embedded one-dimension photonic crystal structures can strongly diffract visible light and present brilliant color in the light. This novel and soft solid polymer matrix that could be shaped and sliced not only paves a new avenue for develop novel magnetic-responsive photonic crystal materials and devices, but also provides a method to observe the magnetic-induced self-assembly structures of the SCNps in media such as polyacrylamide hydrogel matrixs as a result of the ordered structures frozen into the polyacrylamide hydrogel matrixs. So we can reveal the relationship between their structure and color, and furthermore permit a systematic exploration on magnetically induced self-assembling dynamics, colloidal crystallography which have important significance in the large-scale industrial production in the future.