Mechanically robust ordered nanocomposites exhibiting NIR Bragg diffraction

PHYS 490

Sunil Kulkarni, sunil@temple.edu and Stephanie Wunder, slwunder@temple.edu. Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
There is considerable interest in the development of nanostructured materials to impart novel optical and mechanical properties to the resulting nanocomposites. Formation of ordered colloidal suspension of monodisperse nanosized silica is an easy way to achieve ordered arrays in various media such as water, organic solvents and gels. Ordered nanocomposites formed by immobilizing colloidal crystals of silica in elastomeric polymers show only a marginal change in the modulus due to the ordered structure. We report the preparation and characterization of mechanically robust nanocomposites formed by immobilizing colloidal crystals of nanosized silica particles in cross-linkable methacrylate monomers. The resultant ordered nanocomposites not only show improved mechanical properties owing to their ordered structures, they also show a photonic bandgap in the NIR region opening up the possibility of their use as NIR filters and in optical devices.
 

PHYS Poster Session - Nanostructured Materials and Nanophotonics
7:30 PM-10:00 PM, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Sci-Mix
8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Sci-Mix

Division of Physical Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008