Tunable Temperature Response of a Thermochromic Photonic Gel Sensor Containing N-Isopropylacrylamide and 4-Acryloyilmorpholine

In this study, thermochromic photonic gels were fabricated using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as a hydrogel building block, and 4-Acryloyl morpholine (ACMO) and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAM) as thermoresponsive monomers with different critical solution temperature behaviors. Rapid photopolymerization of opal-templated monomer mixtures of varying ACMO contents formed five individual thermochromic inverse opal photonic gels integrated on a single substrate. With temperature variation from 10 °C to 80 °C, the changes in reflective colors and reflectance spectra of the respective thermochromic gels were noted, and λ(peak) changes were plotted. Because NIPAAM exhibits a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at 33 °C, the NIPAAM-only gel showed a steep slope for dλ(peak)/dT below 40 °C, whereas the slope became flatter at high temperatures. As the ACMO content increased in the thermochromic gel, the curve of dλ(peak)/dT turned out to be gradual within the investigated temperature range, exhibiting the entire visible range of colors. The incorporation of ACMO in NIPAAM-based thermochromic gels therefore enabled a better control of color changes at a relatively high-temperature regime compared to a NIPAAM-only gel. In addition, ACMO-containing thermochromic gels exhibited a smaller hysteresis of λ(peak) for the heating and cooling cycle.