Institute of Particle Technology and Advanced Materials and Processes Master Programme, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.
Institute of Particle Technology and Interdisciplinary Center for Functional Particle Systems (FPS), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.
Adv Mater. 2018 Jul;30(28):e1706654. doi: 10.1002/adma.201706654. Epub 2018 May 7.
The natural world is a colorful environment. Stunning displays of coloration have evolved throughout nature to optimize camouflage, warning, and communication. The resulting flamboyant visual effects and remarkable dynamic properties, often caused by an intricate structural design at the nano- and microscale, continue to inspire scientists to unravel the underlying physics and to recreate the observed effects. Here, the methodologies to create bioinspired photonic pigments using colloidal self-assembly approaches are considered. The physics governing the interaction of light with structural features and natural examples of structural coloration are briefly introduced. It is then outlined how the self-assembly of colloidal particles, acting as wavelength-scale building blocks, can be particularly useful to replicate coloration from nature. Different coloration effects that result from the defined structure of the self-assembled colloids are introduced and it is highlighted how these optical properties can be translated into photonic pigments by modifications of the assembly processes. The importance of absorbing elements, as well as the role of surface chemistry and wettability to control structural coloration is discussed. Finally, approaches to integrate dynamic control of coloration into such self-assembled photonic pigments are outlined.
自然界是一个丰富多彩的环境。自然界中已经进化出了令人惊叹的颜色表现形式，以优化伪装、警告和交流。由此产生的绚丽视觉效果和显著的动态特性，通常是由纳米和微米尺度上复杂的结构设计引起的，这继续激发着科学家们揭示潜在的物理原理并再现观察到的效果。在这里，我们考虑了使用胶体自组装方法来创建仿生光子颜料的方法。简要介绍了控制光与结构特征相互作用的物理原理以及自然界中结构色的实例。然后概述了胶体粒子的自组装如何作为波长级别的构建块特别有用，可以复制自然界中的颜色。介绍了由自组装胶体的定义结构产生的不同颜色效果，并强调了如何通过修改组装过程将这些光学性能转化为光子颜料。讨论了吸收元件的重要性以及表面化学和润湿性在控制结构色中的作用。最后，概述了将颜色的动态控制集成到这种自组装光子颜料中的方法。
