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Photonic Lignin with Tunable and Stimuli-Responsive Structural Color
Jingyu Wang1, Wenhao Chen1, Dongjie Yang1
1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou510641, China.
ACS Nano
|December 8, 2022
Summary
Researchers developed "photonic lignin," a sustainable structural color material from natural lignin. This biocompatible material offers tunable, responsive colors for advanced applications in optics and biomedicine.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Science
- Biomaterials
Background:
- Growing demand for sustainable and health-conscious materials drives interest in natural polymers for advanced applications.
- Lignin, a natural polymer, offers biocompatibility, UV resistance, antioxidant properties, and thermal stability, making it ideal for functional materials.
- Challenges exist in utilizing disordered lignin for structural color materials due to its inherent structure.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a strategy for transforming disordered lignin into ordered "photonic lignin" for structural color applications.
- To create tunable, stimuli-responsive structural color materials from lignin.
- To evaluate the biocompatibility and potential applications of the developed photonic lignin.
Main Methods:
- Preparation of monodisperse lignin colloidal spheres using solvent/anti-solvent self-assembly.
- Construction of periodic structures via centrifugal effect to create "photonic lignin" with ordered arrangements.
- Demonstration of tunable structural colors by controlling lignin colloidal sphere diameter.
Main Results:
- Successfully transformed disordered lignin into ordered "photonic lignin" with tunable structural colors.
- Photonic lignin coatings exhibit bright, angle-independent, and stimuli-responsive color properties.
- Cytotoxicity assays confirmed excellent biocompatibility with human tissues, indicating suitability for biomedical uses.
Conclusions:
- Photonic lignin represents a novel, sustainable material for advanced optical and biomedical applications.
- The developed method enables the creation of tunable and responsive structural color materials from abundant natural resources.
- Excellent biocompatibility and tunable color properties highlight the potential of photonic lignin in cosmetics, optical devices, and smart packaging.
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