Living organisms ubiquitously display colors that adapt to environmental changes, relying on the soft layer of cells or proteins. Adoption of soft materials into an artificial adaptive color system has promoted the development of material systems for environmental and health monitoring, anti‐counterfeiting, and stealth technologies. Here, a hydrogel interferometer based on a single hydrogel thin film covalently bonded to a reflective substrate is reported as a simple and universal adaptive color platform. Similar to the cell or protein soft layer of color‐changing animals, the soft hydrogel layer rapidly changes its thickness in response to external stimuli, resulting in instant color change. Such interference colors provide a visual and quantifiable means of revealing rich environmental metrics. Computational model is established and captures the key features of hydrogel stimuli‐responsive swelling, which elucidates the mechanism and design principle for the broad‐based platform. The single material–based platform has advantages of remarkable color uniformity, fast response, high robustness, and facile fabrication. Its versatility is demonstrated by diverse applications: a volatile‐vapor sensor with highly accurate quantitative detection, a colorimetric sensor array for multianalyte recognition, breath‐controlled information encryption, and a colorimetric humidity indicator. Portable and easy‐to‐use sensing systems are demonstrated with smartphone‐based colorimetric analysis.
Drop‐casting manganese oxide (MnO2) hollow nanospheres synthesized via a simple surface‐initiated redox route produces thin films exhibiting angle‐independent structural colors. The colors can rapidly change in response to high‐humidity dynamic water vapor (relative humidity > 90%) with excellent reversibility. When the film is triggered by dynamic water vapor with a relative humidity of ≈100%, the color changes with an optimal wavelength redshift of ≈60 nm at ≈600 ms while there is no shift under static water vapor. The unique selective response originates from the nanoscale porosity formed in the shells by randomly stacked MnO2nanosheets, which enhances the capillary condensation of dynamic water vapor and promotes the change of their effective refractive index for rapid color switching. The repeated color‐switching tests over 100 times confirm the durability and reversibility of the MnO2film. The potential of these films for applications in anti‐counterfeiting and information encryption is further demonstrated by reversible encoding and decoding initiated exclusively by exposure to human breath.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1810485
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10377859
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Small
- Volume:
- 18
- Issue:
- 49
- ISSN:
- 1613-6810
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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