Chemical compositions comprising crystalline colloidal arrays

A composition comprising:

• a crystalline colloidal array comprising polystyrene-based colloidal particles in an aqueous medium;
• and
• a polymeric matrix encapsulating said crystalline colloidal array, wherein said polymeric matrix comprises polymerized poly(ethylene glycol) based monomer units represented by:
• 8
• wherein R2 comprises a functional group having at least two active bonding sites,
• R1, R4 and R5 are each independently selected from the group consisting of alkanes, alkenes, arenes, halides, ethers, acrylates, amine groups, amides, thiols, esters, ketones, nitro compounds, carboxy groups, hydroxy groups, and hydrogen,
• R3 is selected from the group consisting of alkanes, alkenes, arenes, halides, ethers, acrylates, amine groups, amides, thiols, esters, ketones, nitro compounds, carboxy groups, hydroxy groups, hydrogen, proteins, nucleotides, and antibodies, and
• a crosslinking agent polymerized with said monomer units.

A sensory device comprising:

• a crystalline colloidal array comprising an ordered lattice structure defining a visible bandgap at a first wavelength;
• a polymerized matrix encapsulating said crystalline colloidal array, said polymerized matrix comprising poly(ethylene glycol) based monomer units;
• and
• wherein upon stimulation of said sensory device said visible bandgap is capable of shifting to a second wavelength.