Facile Access to High Solid Content Monodispersed Microspheres via Dual‐Component Surfactants Regulation toward High‐Performance Colloidal Photonic Crystals
Xiaoqing Yu, Jie Wu, Jia‐Wei Wang, NIAN‐XIANG ZHANG, Ren‐Kun Qing, Guo‐Xing Li, Qing Li, Su Chen
Abstract
Abstract Monodispersed microspheres play a major role in optical science and engineering, providing ideal building blocks for structural color materials. However, the method toward high solid content (HSC) monodispersed microspheres has remained a key hurdle. Herein, a facile access to harvest monodispersed microspheres based on the emulsion polymerization mechanism is demonstrated, where anionic and nonionic surfactants are employed to achieve the electrostatic and steric dual‐stabilization balance in a synergistic manner. Monodispersed poly(styrene‐butyl acrylate‐methacrylic acid) colloidal latex with 55 wt% HSC is achieved, which shows an enhanced self‐assembly efficiency of 280% compared with the low solid content (10 wt%) latex. In addition, Ag‐coated colloidal photonic crystal (Ag@CPC) coating with near‐zero refractive index is achieved, presenting the characteristics of metamaterials. And an 11‐fold photoluminescence emission enhancement of CdSe@ZnS quantum dots is realized by the Ag@CPC metamaterial coating. Taking advantage of high assembly efficiency, easily large‐scale film‐forming of the 55 wt% HSC microspheres latex, robust Ag@CPC metamaterial coatings could be easily produced for passive cooling. The coating demonstrates excellent thermal insulation performance with theoretical cooling power of 30.4 W m −2 , providing practical significance for scalable CPC architecture coatings in passive cooling.