Reversible Mechanochromisms via Manipulating Surface Wrinkling

Kai WU, Ting ZHU, Liangliang ZHU, Yu SUN, Kai CHEN, Jiaorui CHEN, Haozhi YUAN, Yaqiang WANG, Jinyu ZHANG, Gang LIU*, Xi CHEN, Jun SUN*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

32 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Mechanochromic structural-colored materials have promising applications in various domains. In this Letter, we report three types of reversible mechanochromisms in simple material systems by harnessing mechano-responsive wrinkling dynamics including (i) brightness mechanochromism (BM), (ii) hue change mechanochromism (HCM), and (iii) viewable angle mechanochromism (VAM). Upon stretching, the BM device exhibits almost a constant hue but reduces light brightness due to the postbuckling mechanics-controlled deformation, while the HCM device can change the hue from blue to red with almost constant intensity because of the linear elastic mechanics-controlled deformation. The VAM device shows a constant hue because of the thin film interference effect. However, the viewable angles decrease with increasing applied strain owing to the light scattering of wrinkles. All of the mechanochromic behaviors exhibit good reversibility and durability. We clearly elucidated the underlying mechanisms for different mechanochromisms and demonstrated their potential applications in smart displays, stretchable strain sensors, and antipeeping/anticounterfeiting devices. © 2022 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2261-2269
Number of pages9
JournalNano Letters
Volume22
Issue number6
Early online date2 Mar 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Mar 2022
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 52171124, 51790484, 51801146, 51625103, U20B2027, and 12002271), and the 111 Project of China (BP2018008). This work is also supported by the International Joint Laboratory for Micro/Nano Manufacturing and Measurement Technologies.

Keywords

  • mechanochromisms
  • multifunctionalities
  • reversibility
  • structural colors
  • Wrinkling

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