Modification of the spontaneous emission of quantum dots near the surface of a three-dimensional colloidal photonic crystal

This paper demonstrates experimentally and numerically that a significant modification of spontaneous emission rate can be achieved near the surface of a three-dimensional photonic crystal. In experiments, semiconductor coreshell quantum dots are intentionally confined in a thin polymer film on which a three-dimensional colloidal photonic crystal is fabricated. The spontaneous emission rate of quantum dots is characterised by conventional and time-resolved photoluminescence （PL） measurements. The modification of the spontaneous emission rate, which is reflected in the change of spectral shape and PL lifetime, is clearly observed. While an obvious increase in the PL lifetime is found at most wavelengths in the band gap, a significant reduction in the PL lifetime by one order of magnitude is observed at the short-wavelength band edge. Numerical simulation reveals a periodic modulation of spontaneous emission rate with decreasing modulation strength when an emitter is moved away from the surface of the photonic crystal. It is supported by the fact that the modification of spontaneous emission rate is not pronounced for quantum dots distributed in a thick polymer film where both enhancement and suppression are present simultaneously. This finding provides a simple and effective way for improving the performance of light emitting devices.

Real-time quantitative optical method to study temperature dependence of crack propagation process in colloidal photonic crystal film

A real-time quantitative optical method to characterize crack propagation in colloidal photonic crystal film（CPCF）is developed based on particle deformation models and previous real-time crack observations. The crack propagation process and temperature dependence of the crack propagation rate in CPCF are investigated. By this method, the crack propagation rate is found to slow down gradually to zero when cracks become more numerous and dense. Meanwhile, with the temperature increasing, the crack propagation rate constant decreases. The negative temperature dependence of the crack propagation rate is due to the increase of van der Waals attraction, which finally results in the decrease of resultant force. The findings provide new insight into the crack propagation process in CPCF.

Influence of colloidal particle transfer on the quality of self-assembling colloidal photonic crystal under confined condition

The relationship between colloidal particle transfer and the quality of colloidal photonic crystal（CPC） is investigated by comparing colloidal particle self-assembling under the vertical channel（VC） and horizontal channel（HC） conditions.Both the theoretical analyses and the experimental measurements indicate that crystal quality depends on the stability of mass transfer.For the VC,colloidal particle transfer takes place in a stable laminar flow,which is conducive to forming high-quality crystal.In contrast,it happens in an unstable turbulent flow for the HC.Crystals with cracks and an uneven surface formed under the HC condition can be seen from the images of a field emission scanning electron microscope（SEM） and a three-dimensional（3D） laser scanning microscope（LSM）,respectively.

Engineering particles towards 3D supraballs-based passive cooling via grafting CDs onto colloidal photonic crystals

Particle engineering has opened the floodgates to material science in both fundamental and application field. However, covalent interactions have not yet been adequately designed in the particle engineering for functional colloidal photonic crystals(CPCs). Herein, we achieved covalent coupling between carboxylrich poly(styrene-acrylic acid)(P(St-AA)) monodispersed colloidal particles and amine-rich carbon dots(CDs) based on an feasible and universal particle engineering strategy. The designed CDs-grafted P(St-AA)monodispersed colloidal particles initiate a hydrogen bond-driven assembly mode and ensure the construction of large-scale crack-free CPCs. Moreover, the CDs equipped with selective broad-band absorption capacity could improve the saturation of structural colors for high-visibility CPCs. Furthermore, an injectable photonic hydrogel(IPH) is developed to design CPC supraball hydrogel via integrating the CDsgrafted P(St-AA) CPC supraballs with supramolecular hydrogel. Combining superior flexibility, sufficient self-healing capacity of supramolecular hydrogel with visual optical information of our CPC supraballs, a cyclically reversible coding and decoding system was developed. Meanwhile, we firstly demonstrated the novel strategy of 3D supraballs-based passive cooling. The designed 3D CPC supraball hydrogel presents nearly full observation angle reflections behavior and excellent water evaporation capacity and achieves3.6 ℃ temperature drops, showing the application advantages in 3D thermal management. This work not only provides a new insight for manipulating optical properties of CPCs, but also demonstrates an easyto-perform platform, as well as indicates the direction for the promising application of CPCs.

A colloidal crystal double-heterostructure fabricated with the angle controlled inclined deposition method

A self-assembly method, named the angle controlled inclined deposition method, is developed for fabricating well- ordered silica and polystyrene colloidal crystals. A high-quality colloidal crystal with a flat and uniform surface over a large area can be produced rapidly using a minute quantity of suspension and without any additional equipment. By controlling the inclined angle, we can fabricate colloidal crystals with diverse numbers of layers. A colloidal crystal double-heterostructure （composed of three different colloidal photonic crystals） can be rapidly fabricated with this method. Both experimental and simulation results show that the photonic band gap of the double-heterostructure is not a simple superposition of that of the compositional colloidal crystals along the stacking direction.

Facile and Convenient Fabrication of Color-controlled Colloidal Magnetically Assembled Photonic Crystals

A facile, convenient and flexible method to tune the structural color of the colloidal magnetically assembled photonic crystals（CMA-PCs） was proposed. The mechanism to tune structural color could be attributed to the significant influence of the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate（SDS） concentration on the particle size, especially on the magnetite content of the superparamagnetic composite nanoparticles（MCNPs）. By adjusting SDS concentra- tion in miniemulsion polymerization of MCNPs, CMA-PCs with desired diffraction colors could be obtained.