Controllable Structural Colored Screen for Real-time Display via Near-infrared Light.

Patterned colloidal crystals with stimuli-responsive materials provide sensitive and versatile means for investigating the varying ambiance of heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and stress. However, it remains a challenge to integrate stimuli-responsive materials with colloidal crystals in a simple and efficient method, thus restricting them from being used in general applications. Inspired from chameleons, we present a facile yet high-quality approach for the fabrication of the assembly of colloidal nanoparticles based on the hydrophilic modified thermo-sensitive films. Various kinds of integral thermo-sensitive structural colored (TSSC) films are simply prepared in a high-quality screen with large scale, low cost, angle-independence, and excellent flexibility. By simply turning on the NIR laser, which brings heat on the irradiated region to increase the temperature. Integration of the multi-colored photonic bandgap (PBG) of thermal-sensitive colloidal crystal and flexible anti-counterfeit labels into the NIR light exciting screens, which can change their intensity of PBG obviously. This advanced technology not only provides an efficient strategy for the preparation of colloidal crystal but also demonstrates highly thermo-sensitive structural colored screen in information storage, anti-counterfeiting, and real-time display materials.