Enhancement of Sensitivity in Photonic Crystal Based Chemical Sensor Using Chemo-Mechanical Bilayer Effect

Photonic Crystals (PCs) enable the control of light through nanostructures and are used as colorimetric sensors. In this study, we propose a new mechanism for improving the sensitivity of the PCs based colorimetric sensor by inducing mechanical stress due to the difference from the relative swelling of the thin film on the nanostructure. Different types of polymer materials with a distinctive swelling ratio are patterned so that each polymer section shows a unique color. Using the color change combination that appears during chemical exposure makes possible a powerless color change sensor that can detect a specific target material.