Polymer colloids in photonic materials

Exciting materials known as photonic band-gap materials have come upon the materials science scene and are being studied by many research groups around the world. These new materials operate on light in a way very analogous to the way semiconductors operate on electrons to produce very fast electronic switching and computing circuits. It is imagined that the successful fabrication of these materials will lead to computing machines operating on light and yielding the ultimate speeds in information processing, as electrons typically move only at about one tenth to one half the speed of light. Such devices will require much less heat dissipation and may lead to further miniaturization of computing circuits. New applications in diverse chemical and biochemical sensing are also emerging from these photonic materials. Separation and filtration materials and diverse mesoporous materials and composites are also being developed that rely on such photonic arrays and assemblies as fabrication templates. Polymer colloids in the size range of tens of nm to tens of microns are key components in such new materials and processes. A major limitation in the production of such new materials and devices is that fabrication of such arrays and assemblies is extremely slow and unsuitable for practical manufacturing. Crystallization of charged colloidal suspensions, annealing of core–shell particle arrays, epitaxial growth of crystals from two–dimensional templates, and annealing of thermoreversible gel particle arrays are being explored to ameliorate these limitations. To cite this article: J. Texter, C. R. Chimie 6 (2003).