Photochromism from wavelength-selective colloidal phase segregation

Phase segregation is ubiquitously observed in immiscible mixtures, such as oil and water, in which the mixing entropy is overcome by the segregation enthalpy^1-3. In monodispersed colloidal systems, however, the colloidal-colloidal interactions are usually non-specific and short-ranged, which leads to negligible segregation enthalpy⁴. The recently developed photoactive colloidal particles show long-range phoretic interactions, which can be readily tuned with incident light, suggesting an ideal model for studying phase behaviour and structure evolution kinetics^5,6. In this work, we design a simple spectral selective active colloidal system, in which TiO₂ colloidal species were coded with spectral distinctive dyes to form a photochromic colloidal swarm. In this system, the particle-particle interactions can be programmed by combining incident light with various wavelengths and intensities to enable controllable colloidal gelation and segregation. Furthermore, by mixing the cyan, magenta and yellow colloids, a dynamic photochromic colloidal swarm is formulated. On illumination of coloured light, the colloidal swarm adapts the appearance of incident light due to layered phase segregation, presenting a facile approach towards coloured electronic paper and self-powered optical camouflage.