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. 2022 Mar 9;14(9):11672-11680.
doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c00561. Epub 2022 Feb 28.

Chameleon-Inspired Brilliant and Sensitive Mechano-Chromic Photonic Skins for Self-Reporting the Strains of Earthworms

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Chameleon-Inspired Brilliant and Sensitive Mechano-Chromic Photonic Skins for Self-Reporting the Strains of Earthworms

Yang Hu et al. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. .

Abstract

The skins of chameleons have attracted growing interest because they have sensitive mechano-chromic properties and bright colors due to the large surface-to-surface distances (Ds-s) between neighboring particles and contrast of the refractive index (Δn), respectively. Inspired by these, artificial mechano-chromic photonic skins (MPSs) mimicking those of chameleons were fabricated by the large Δn and Ds-s. The fabrication is considerably simple and efficient based on the self-assembly strategy using commercial chemicals and materials. The reflectance of MPSs depends on the value of Δn, which can be greatly increased to 70% with a Δn of 0.035, leading to their brilliant colors. Because of the large Ds-s, the MPSs possess outstanding mechano-chromic performances, including a large maximal (Δλ = 205 nm) and effective (Δλe = 184 nm) tuning range of the reflection wavelength, high sensitivity (368), fast responsiveness (2.2 nm/ms), good stabilities (>1 year), and reversibility (>100 times). Based on these advantages, MPSs have been used for self-reporting the strain of earthworms by outputting diverse colors during the peristaltic process, indicating the great potential of the MPSs as visual sensors and optical coatings.

Keywords: bio-inspired sensors; brilliant; mechano-chromic photonic skins; sensitive; structural colors.

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