Dynamic Colloidal Photonic Crystal Hydrogels with Self-Recovery and Injectability
Yue Ma,
Peiyan He,
Wanli Xie,
Qiang Zhang,
Weiling Yin,
Jianming Pan,
Miao Wang,
Xin Zhao,
Guoqing Pan
Affiliations
Yue Ma
Institute for Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China; Jiangsu Agrochem Laboratory, Changzhou, Jiangsu 213022, China
Peiyan He
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
Wanli Xie
Institute for Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
Qiang Zhang
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China
Weiling Yin
Institute for Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
Jianming Pan
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
Miao Wang
Institute for Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
Xin Zhao
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China
Guoqing Pan
Institute for Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
Simulation of self-recovery and diversity of natural photonic crystal (PC) structures remain great challenges for artificial PC materials. Motivated by the dynamic characteristics of PC nanostructures, here, we present a new strategy for the design of hydrogel-based artificial PC materials with reversible interactions in the periodic nanostructures. The dynamic PC hydrogels, derived from self-assembled microgel colloidal crystals, were tactfully constructed by reversible crosslinking of adjacent microgels in the ordered structure via phenylboronate covalent chemistry. As proof of concept, three types of dynamic colloidal PC hydrogels with different structural colors were prepared. All the hydrogels showed perfect self-healing ability against physical damage. Moreover, dynamic crosslinking within the microgel crystals enabled shear-thinning injection of the PC hydrogels through a syringe (indicating injectability or printability), followed by rapid recovery of the structural colors. In short, in addition to the great significance in biomimicry of self-healing function of natural PC materials, our work provides a facile strategy for the construction of diversified artificial PC materials for different applications such as chem-/biosensing, counterfeit prevention, optical display, and energy conversion.
