Thermally Tunable Hydrogels Displaying Angle-Independent Structural Colors.
We report the preparation of thermally tunable hydrogels displaying angle-independent structural colors. The porous structures were formed with short-range order using colloidal amorphous array templates and a small amount of carbon black (CB). The resultant porous hydrogels prepared using colloidal amorphous arrays without CB appeared white, whereas the hydrogels with CB revealed bright structural colors. The brightly colored hydrogels rapidly changed hues in a reversible manner, and the hues varied widely depending on the water temperature. Moreover, the structural colors were angle-independent under diffusive lighting because of the isotropic nanostructure generated from the colloidal amorphous arrays.
Department of Molecular Design and Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603 (Japan).
Yumiko
Y
Ohtsuka
Department of Molecular Design and Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603 (Japan).
Takahiro
T
Seki
Department of Molecular Design and Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603 (Japan). ytakeoka@apchem.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
Yukikazu
Y
Takeoka
amorphous arrays; colloids; hydrogels; polymers; structural colors