A novel opal closest-packing photonic crystal for naked-eye glucose detection.

A novel opal closest-packing (OCP) photonic crystal (PC) is successfully prepared for naked-eye glucose detection. This PC is fabricated via a vertical convective self-assembly method with a new type of monodisperse microsphere polymerized by co-monomers, namely, methyl methacrylate (MMA), N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA), and 3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid (AAPBA). The OCP PC has high stability and periodically-ordered structure, showing the desired structural color. The proposed PC material displays a red shift and reduced reflection intensity when detecting glucose molecules. The red-shift wavelength reaches 75 nm, which clearly changes the structural color from brilliant blue to emerald green. This visually distinguishable color change facilitates the detection of the glucose concentrations from 3 to 20 mm, which demonstrates the potential of the opal PC material for naked-eye detection. Thus, the novel PMMA–NIPA–AAPBA OCP PC is a simply prepared and sensitive material, which shows promising use in the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and in real-time monitoring of diabetes. Different types of appropriated recognition groups are expected to be introduced into the 3D OCP PC to form new functional materials or chemical sensors, which will extensively broaden the PC material application.