For an application concerning rewritable paper and photonic crystals, I am looking for a commercially available polymer that can act as a polymer matrix surrounding the self-assembled photonic crystal, which will swell upon contact with a hydrophilic/hydrophobic ionic liquid, thereby shifting the structural color displayed by the system.
I have tried PEGDA, but this results in a film that is too brittle for further use. Initial testing also included chitosan, poly-vinyl alcohol and cellulose but these either didn't form a transparent film or were swollen uncontrollably upon contact with H2O.
For my search, I tried staying within the hydrogels, but I am open to other options.
You can try the followings:
Poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide), potassium salt, cross-linked;
Poly(acrylic acid), sodium salt-graft-poly(ethylene oxide), cross-linked;
Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate); Poly(ethylene oxide); Poly(methyl methacrylate).
Dear Wouter Vander Ghinst
thank you for asking this interesting technical question. As an inorganic chemist I'm far from being a proven expert in this field. However, I can suggest to you the following potentially useful references which might help you in your analysis:Ionic liquid modulation of swelling and LCST behavior of N-isopropylacrylamide polymer gels
Article Ionic liquid modulation of swelling and LCST behavior of N-i...
and
Ionic conduction of slide-ring gel swollen with ionic liquids
Article Ionic conduction of slide-ring gel swollen with ionic liquids
The first article is freely available as public full text on RG
Good luck with your research! 👍
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