Temperature tunable photonic band gap in polyvinylidene fluoride inverse opals

Abstract

Inverse polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) opals with a temperature tunable photonic band gap (PBG) were fabricated by the sol–gel process using SiO₂ opal templates. The samples exhibited an olivine to dark blue color after heat treatment at different temperatures. Their microregion reflection spectra showed that the inverse PVDF opal PBG blue-shifted from 573 nm to 498 nm when the treating temperature increased from 80 °C to 160 °C. This was due to a reduction of the inverse PVDF opal periodical size during the heat treatment process. Such inverse PVDF opals with temperature tunable PBGs have a great potential in device applications.