Nanostructures similar to those found in the vividly blue wings of Morpho butterflies and colorful photonic crystals enable structural color through constructive interference of light waves. Different from commonly studied structure-colored materials using periodic structures to manipulate optical properties, we report a previously unrecognized approach to precisely control the structural color and light transmission via a novel photonic colloidal gel without long-range order. Nanoparticles in this gel form micrometer-sized bicontinuous domains driven by the microphase separation of binary solvents. This approach enables dynamic coloration with a precise wavelength selectivity over a broad range of wavelengths extended well beyond the visible light that is not achievable with traditional methods. The dynamic wavelength selectivity is thermally tunable, reversible, and the material fabrication is easily scalable.

类似于在大闪蝶鲜艳的蓝色翅膀和彩色光子晶体中发现的纳米结构，通过光波的相长干涉使结构颜色成为可能。与通常研究的使用周期性结构来操纵光学性质的结构色材料不同，我们报告了一种以前未被认识的方法，通过一种没有长程有序的新型光子胶体凝胶来精确控制结构颜色和光传输。这种凝胶中的纳米颗粒形成微米级的双连续域，由二元溶剂的微相分离驱动。这种方法能够在远超出传统方法无法实现的可见光的广泛波长范围内实现具有精确波长选择性的动态着色。