Non-Close-Packed Silica Nanoparticle-Based Photonic Crystal Gels for Customized Fabrication

Photonic crystal gels, as structural color materials with broad applications, derive their unique optical properties from the orderly arrangement of nanoparticles within the material. However, the self-assembled nanoparticle arrangement is highly susceptible to disturbances from external environmental stimuli, which significantly constrains their integration with other materials or manufacturing processes. In this study, we developed a strategy for preparing nonclose-packed photonic crystal gels mediated by a degradable gel network. This strategy locks the ordered nonclose-packed arrangement of nanoparticles at the nanoscale via the degradable gel network and enables easy incorporation of diverse functional materials into the photonic crystals through gel network exchange while maintaining structural color integrity throughout the process. This approach allows for facile preparation of photonic crystal gels with various compositions. Furthermore, integration with digital light processing (DLP) systems holds significant application value in the customized fabrication of patterned, multimaterial photonic crystals.