Abstract:

We immobilized colloidal crystals of charged particles in a poly (acrylamide) matrix by photoinduced polymerization. A reflection spectrum and Kossel-line diffraction were employed to trace and compare changes in the colloidal crystal structure before and after immobilization processing. Our experiments showed that immobilized colloidal crystals successfully retained the structure of colloidal crystals unless the sizes and the lattice spacings of the immobilized colloidal crystals decreased slightly. By observing the structure of immobilized crystals in Milli-Q water we confirmed that the lattice spacings of the crystals varied for several days initially during immobilization because of gel swelling or de-swelling. After reaching a balance (2-5 d), the immobilized colloidal crystals are found to be stable in Milli-Q water. Our study thus explores potential applications of colloidal crystals such as their use in photonic materials.

Key words: Colloidal crystal, Immobilization, Gel, Reflection spectrum, Kossel-line diffraction