Colour from the self-assembly of block copolymers
Inspired by nature’s colouring strategy, photonic pigments show great promise as a replacement for toxic dyes in the production of paints, cosmetics, displays and sustainable photonic devices. To date, research has focused on amorphous aggregates of colloidal crystals. Current methods, however, are limited in their ability to produce such materials on a large scale. The COLOUR project, funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, is developing biology-inspired photonic pigments by carefully controlling the assembly of soft matter at the nanometre scale. Known as structural colouration, this approach exploits the self-assembly of block copolymers into concentric lamellar structures to generate full-spectrum photonic crystals with high reflectivity and angular independence. These structures are coupled with broadband absorbers to ensure the purity and vibrancy of the colours.