Rotational Periodicity Display of the Tunable Wettability Pattern in a Photoswitch Based on a Response Bilayer Photonic Crystal

Although the forward diffraction of the three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystal is easily applied to a photoswitch, backward diffraction rainbows are rarely reported. The first rotational photoswitch based on a bilayer 3D photonic crystal with backward diffractions similar to those of two-dimensional photonic crystals was fabricated by vertically combining different thicknesses of nanoparticle templates. When rotating the bilayer photonic crystal, the opening or closing of the rotational photoswitch shows periodic reproducibility values of 30 and 60°. Different periods are regulated by the thickness and scattering effect of the top layer. Moreover, invisible patterns can be encoded and erased by changing the wettability via pH. Because of the decreasing of the refractive index differentials, it will be revealed rapidly when immersed in water. The revealed pattern can be periodically turned on and off by rotating the bilayer photonic crystal. It has great application prospects in optical prism, warning board, anti-counterfeiting, steganography, watermarking, and complex information coding.