Engineering

Structural stability

Materials science

Computer science

Biomimetics

Photonic crystal

Photonics

Physics

Nanotechnology

Light energy

Structural coloration

Optics

Illuminance

Artificial intelligence

Artificial light

Structural engineering

Nanostructure

Optoelectronics

The Innovation

Structural colors are colors generated by the interaction between incident light and nanostructures. Structural colors have been studied for decades due to their promising advantages of long-term stability and environmentally friendly properties compared with conventional pigments and dyes. Previous studies have demonstrated many artificial structural colors inspired by naturally generated colors from plants and animals. Moreover, many strategies consisting of different principles have been reported to achieve dynamically tunable structural colors. Furthermore, the artificial structural colors can have multiple functions besides decoration, such as absorbing solar energy, anti-counterfeiting, and information encryption. In the present work, we reviewed the typical artificial structural colors generated by multilayer films, photonic crystals, and metasurfaces according to the type of structures, and discussed the approaches to achieve dynamically tunable structural colors.

Artificial Structural Colors and Applications