Nanoassembly of Polydisperse Photonic Crystals based on Binary and   Ternary Polymer Opal Alloys
  Ordered binary and ternary photonic crystals, composed of different sized polymer-composite spheres with diameter ratios up to 120%, are generated using bending induced oscillatory shearing (BIOS). This viscoelastic system creates polydisperse equilibrium structures, producing mixed opaline colored films with greatly reduced requirements for particle monodispersity, and very different sphere size ratios, compared to other methods of nano-assembly. 
Qibin Zhao, Chris E. Finlayson, Christian Schafer, Peter Spahn, Markus   Gallei, Lars Herrmann, Andrei Petukhov, Jeremy J. B...
cond-mat.mes-hall physics.optics