Polymerized Crystalline Colloidal Arrays Photonic Cosmetic Contact Lenses

We demonstrate the feasibility of making contact lenses from polymerized crystalline colloidal array materials to produce lenses with beautiful sparkling colors. We utilize poly[HEMA-(ethyleneglycol)200dimethacrylate] hydrogel with a crystalline colloidal array (CCA) embedded in it. The CCA material is composed of mesoscopic spheres of polystyrene latex particles dispersed in water. These particles self assemble in an aqueous medium to form a threedimensional array that efficiently Bragg diffracts visible light producing colors from blue to red as determined by its interparticle spacing. The monodisperse spherical particles have diameters between 106 to 170 nm. The CCA structure is well preserved within the poly(HEMA) hydrogel giving the contact lens models beautiful sparkling violet, blue, blue-greenish, green and yellow colors, all without the use of dyes.