Three-dimensional printing of photonic colloidal glasses into objects with isotropic structural color.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35906208.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-32060-2 and PMC identifier 9338281.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Structural color is frequently exploited by living organisms for biological functions and has also been translated into synthetic materials as a more durable and less hazardous alternative to conventional pigments. Additive manufacturing approaches were recently exploited for the fabrication of exquisite photonic objects, but the angle-dependence observed limits a broader application of structural color in synthetic systems. Here, we propose a manufacturing platform for the 3D printing of complex-shaped objects that display isotropic structural color generated from photonic colloidal glasses. Structurally colored objects are printed from aqueous colloidal inks containing monodisperse silica particles, carbon black, and a gel-forming copolymer. Rheology and Small-Angle-X-Ray-Scattering measurements are performed to identify the processing conditions leading to printed objects with tunable structural colors. Multimaterial printing is eventually used to create complex-shaped objects with multiple structural colors using silica and carbon as abundant and sustainable building blocks.