Structural Color From Colloidal Glasses

Abstract

When a material has inhomogeneities at a lengthscale comparable to the wavelength of light, interference can give rise to structural colors: colors that originate from the interaction of the material's microstructure with light and do not require absorbing dyes. In this thesis we study a class of these materials, called photonic glasses, where the inhomogeneities form a dense and random arrangement. Photonic glasses have angle-independent structural colors that look like those of conventional dyes. However, when this work started, there was only a handful of colors accessible with photonic glasses, mostly hues of blue.

We use various types of colloidal particles to make photonic glasses, and we study, both theoretically and experimentally, how the optical properties of these glasses relate to their structure and constituent particles. Based on our observations from glasses of conventional particles, we construct a theoretical model that explains the scarcity of yellow, orange, and red photonic glasses. Guided by this model, we develop novel colloidal systems that allow a higher degree of control over structural color. We assemble glasses of soft, core-shell particles with scattering cores and transparent shells, where the resonant wavelength can be tuned independently of the reflectivity. We then encapsulate glasses of these core-shell particles into emulsion droplets of tunable size; in this system, we observe, for the first time, angle-independent structural colors that cover the entire visible spectrum. To enhance color saturation, we begin experimenting with inverse glasses, where the refractive index of the particles is lower than the refractive index of the medium, with promising results. Finally, based on our theoretical model for scattering from colloidal glasses, we begin an exploration of the color gamut that could be achieved with this technique, and we find that photonic glasses are a promising approach to a new type of long-lasting, non-toxic, and tunable pigment.