Photo-Luminescent Photonic Crystals for Anti-Counterfeiting

The conventional photonic crystals (PCs) are usually prepared by the self-assembly of silica or polystyrene particles. However, their applications are limited significantly due to the lack of the functions of the building blocks. Here, a new kind of photo-luminescent photonic crystals (PLPCs) with brilliant PL and structural colors were prepared by the self-assembly of dye-doped silica particles. The PL and structural colors of PCs can be well-controlled by altering the species of dyes and the size of the particles, respectively. Based on these advantages, PLPC patterns with encrypted information were fabricated through the combination of PLPCs and PCs with similar structural colors but diverse PL colors. These patterns can reversibly hide and display the encrypted information under sunlight and UV illumination, respectively. This work paves a new way for constructing functional PCs and will promote their applications in anti-counterfeiting, smart labels, and optical devices.