High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic Crystals
Photonic technologies are nowadays dominated by highly performing inorganic structures that are commonly fabricated via lithography or epitaxial growths. Unfortunately, the fabrication of these systems is costly, time consuming, and does not allow for the growth of large photonic structures. All-pol...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Crystals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/10/3/154 |
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| author | Christian Tavella Paola Lova Martina Marsotto Giorgio Luciano Maddalena Patrini Paola Stagnaro Davide Comoretto |
| author_facet | Christian Tavella Paola Lova Martina Marsotto Giorgio Luciano Maddalena Patrini Paola Stagnaro Davide Comoretto |
| author_sort | Christian Tavella |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Photonic technologies are nowadays dominated by highly performing inorganic structures that are commonly fabricated via lithography or epitaxial growths. Unfortunately, the fabrication of these systems is costly, time consuming, and does not allow for the growth of large photonic structures. All-polymer photonic crystals could overcome this limitation thanks to easy solubility and melt processing. On the other hand, macromolecules often do not offer a dielectric contrast large enough to approach the performances of their inorganic counterparts. In this work, we demonstrate a new approach to achieve high dielectric contrast distributed Bragg reflectors with a photonic band gap that is tunable in a very broad spectral region. A highly transparent medium was developed through a blend of a commercial polymer with a high refractive index inverse vulcanized polymer that is rich in sulfur, where the large polarizability of the S−S bond provides refractive index values that are unconceivable with common non-conjugated polymers. This approach paves the way to the recycling of sulfur byproducts for new high added-value nano-structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:49:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f484c12cdfe34087963de2aa6cd540cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4352 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:49:17Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Crystals |
| spelling | doaj.art-f484c12cdfe34087963de2aa6cd540cd2022-12-22T03:18:53ZengMDPI AGCrystals2073-43522020-02-0110315410.3390/cryst10030154cryst10030154High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic CrystalsChristian Tavella0Paola Lova1Martina Marsotto2Giorgio Luciano3Maddalena Patrini4Paola Stagnaro5Davide Comoretto6Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via Dodecaneso, 31, 16132, Genova, ItalyDipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via Dodecaneso, 31, 16132, Genova, ItalyIstituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche “Giulio Natta”, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via De Marini, 6, 16149, Genova, ItalyIstituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche “Giulio Natta”, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via De Marini, 6, 16149, Genova, ItalyDipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Via Bassi, 6, 27100, Pavia, ItalyIstituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche “Giulio Natta”, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via De Marini, 6, 16149, Genova, ItalyDipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via Dodecaneso, 31, 16132, Genova, ItalyPhotonic technologies are nowadays dominated by highly performing inorganic structures that are commonly fabricated via lithography or epitaxial growths. Unfortunately, the fabrication of these systems is costly, time consuming, and does not allow for the growth of large photonic structures. All-polymer photonic crystals could overcome this limitation thanks to easy solubility and melt processing. On the other hand, macromolecules often do not offer a dielectric contrast large enough to approach the performances of their inorganic counterparts. In this work, we demonstrate a new approach to achieve high dielectric contrast distributed Bragg reflectors with a photonic band gap that is tunable in a very broad spectral region. A highly transparent medium was developed through a blend of a commercial polymer with a high refractive index inverse vulcanized polymer that is rich in sulfur, where the large polarizability of the S−S bond provides refractive index values that are unconceivable with common non-conjugated polymers. This approach paves the way to the recycling of sulfur byproducts for new high added-value nano-structures.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/10/3/154polymer photonic crystalsinverse vulcanizationdistributed bragg reflectors, refractive index. |
| spellingShingle | Christian Tavella Paola Lova Martina Marsotto Giorgio Luciano Maddalena Patrini Paola Stagnaro Davide Comoretto High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic Crystals Crystals polymer photonic crystals inverse vulcanization distributed bragg reflectors, refractive index. |
| title | High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic Crystals |
| title_full | High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic Crystals |
| title_fullStr | High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic Crystals |
| title_full_unstemmed | High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic Crystals |
| title_short | High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Organic Photonic Crystals |
| title_sort | high refractive index inverse vulcanized polymers for organic photonic crystals |
| topic | polymer photonic crystals inverse vulcanization distributed bragg reflectors, refractive index. |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/10/3/154 |
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