Structural Color Production Process Supports Soft Photonics Applications

By coating droplets of an aqueous solution of hydroxopropyl cellulose with silica nanoparticles, and placing these “liquid marbles” inside an organic solvent, scientists have successfully made and displayed structural colors from cellulose-based polymers. Liquid marbles, which are millimeter-size droplets of liquid crystalline solutions, serve as a surrounding fluid in the system, and are coated to prevent them from mixing with the solvent. The marbles still interact with the fluid, however, producing colors in a process that yielded results that could be used as an alternative to dying. The two-liquid system responded to environmental changes, meaning the discovery could hold applications in/with soft photonic...