The enhanced sensing and catalytic activity with polymer-based colloidal photonic crystals

Aimed at manipulating the propagation of light and functional applications such as enhanced sensing and catalysis through intensifying light harvesting, colloidal photonic crystal (CPC) materials have attracted much research interests because of its excellent properties and potential functional applications in optical, electrical, thermal, and magnetic aspects. CPC is a dimensionally periodic dielectric structure that exhibits a photonic band-gap (PBG). The theory of CPC has been put forth for 30 years, and many achievements have been made based on theoretical and experimental research. CPC materials inhibit photons from propagating for a certain band of frequencies corresponding to the fabricated PBG. We review the characteristics of smart polymeric CPCs based on our research, including the preparation methods as well as its developmental status in sensors and catalysis in recent years. The future research focus and developmental direction are also presented.