Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is grafted from a flat silicon substrate via ATRP. The PAN layer is etched to generate two-dimensional photonic crystals (2DPC). Polyvinyltetrazole (PVT) 2DPCs are obtained after a cyano-to-tetrazole conversion reaction. PVT 2DPCs exhibit a dramatic change in refractive index after copper ion absorption. Change in refractive index results in a color change from red to green after copper ion absorption.