Reconfigurable Mechanochromic Patterns into Chameleon-Inspired Photonic Papers

Dongpeng Yang; Yang Hu; Dekun Ma; Jianping Ge; Shaoming Huang

doi:10.34133/2022/9838071

Reconfigurable Mechanochromic Patterns into Chameleon-Inspired Photonic Papers

Research (Wash D C). 2022 Jul 19:2022:9838071. doi: 10.34133/2022/9838071. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Dongpeng Yang¹, Yang Hu¹, Dekun Ma², Jianping Ge³, Shaoming Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials and Energy, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials and Energy Storage Devices, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Alternative Technologies for Fine Chemicals Process, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China.
³ School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.

Abstract

Photonic crystal (PC) patterns have shown wide applications in optical devices, information encryption, anticounterfeiting, etc. Unfortunately, it is still a great challenge to reconfigure the PC patterns once fabricated. Herein, a new strategy is presented to reconfigure self-recordable PC patterns by printing local patterns into the chameleon-inspired PC papers using the phase change material (PCM) as ink and then erasing the patterns in ethanol. Multicolor and high-resolution (25 and 75 μm for dot and lines, respectively) patterns can be efficiently and repeatedly reconfigured. In addition, the photonic patterns based on the PC paper and PCM combinations are gifted with mechanochromic characteristics and can show programmable and reversible color change under pressure. The high melting point of the ink, nonclosely packed structures of the PC paper, and the similar solubility parameter of PC paper, PCM, and ethanol are the keys for all these characteristics. This work offers a simple, flexible, efficient way to reconfigure PC patterns with mechanochromic properties and could open up exciting applications for novel hand-operation-based anticounterfeiting and optical devices.