title: Mechano-actuated ultrafast full-colour switching in layered photonic hydrogels.
abstract: Photonic crystals with tunability in the visible region are of great interest for controlling light diffraction. Mechanochromic photonic materials are periodically structured soft materials designed with a photonic stop-band that can be tuned by mechanical forces to reflect specific colours. Soft photonic materials with broad colour tunability and fast colour switching are invaluable for application. Here we report a novel mechano-actuated, soft photonic hydrogel that has an ultrafast-response time, full-colour tunable range, high spatial resolution and can be actuated by a very small compressive stress. In addition, the material has excellent mechanical stability and the colour can be reversibly switched at high frequency more than 10,000 times without degradation. This material can be used in optical devices, such as full-colour display and sensors to visualize the time evolution of complicated stress/strain fields, for example, generated during the motion of biological cells.
authors.affiliation: 1] Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan [2].
authors.forename: Youfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
authors.affiliation: 1] Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan [2].
authors.forename: Md Anamul
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
authors.forename: Tasuku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nonoyama
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
authors.forename: Xufeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan.
authors.forename: Itsuro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kajiwara
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
authors.forename: Jian Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gong