Photo-tuning of Highly Selective Wetting in Inverse Opals

Publication information:

Singleton T, Burgess I, Nerger B, Goulet-Hanssens A, Koay N, Barrett C, Aizenberg J. Photo-tuning of Highly Selective Wetting in Inverse Opals. Soft Matter. 2014;10(9):1325–1328. doi:10.1039/C3SM52684D

Abstract

Crack-free inverse opals exhibit a sharply defined threshold wettability for infiltration that has enabled their use as colourimetric indicators for liquid identification. Here we demonstrate direct and continuous photo-tuning of this wetting threshold in inverse opals whose surfaces are function- alized with a polymer doped with azobenzene chromophores.