Controlling thermochromism in a photonic block copolymer gel

The tunable properties of stimulus-responsive materials attract great interest in a variety of technological applications. Photonic gels are a new class of these materials, which can be tuned to reflect different wavelengths of light. Controlling this reflected color via temperature-induced changes of self-assembled photonic materials is important for their application in sensors and displays. In this work, the thermochromic behavior of a PS-P2VP photonic gel was found to originate from a temperature-induced change in the pK(a) of the P2VP blocks. Control was obtained through the manipulation of the solution pH. The findings of this work provide the basis for understanding and controlling the properties of thermochromic block copolymers fostering their use in technologically relevant applications.