Polymer that changes color instantly in response to external magnetic field

18-Jun-09

A research team at the University of California, Riverside has fabricated microscopic polymer beads that change color instantly and reversibly when external magnetic fields acting upon the microspheres change orientation. The beads or "magnetochromatic microspheres" have excellent structural stability. They also are highly compatible with various types of dispersion media such as water, alcohol, hexane and even polymer solutions, allowing them to retain magnetically tunable colors in a variety of chemical environments. The instantaneous color change occurs with no change in the structure or intrinsic properties of the microspheres themselves, unlike many conventional approaches. What changes instead are the magnetic fields acting externally on the orientation of these microspheres, these photonic crystals. Our work provides a new mechanism for inducing color change in materials. Now, for the first time, stable photonic materials with tunable colors can be fabricated on a large scale. Applications of the new material include display type units such as rewritable or reusable signage, posters, papers and labels, and other magnetically activated security features. The new material also can be used to make environmentally friendly pigments for paints and cosmetics, as well as ink materials for color printing. Within a certain range, it is possible also to tune the color of the material by simply rotating the microspheres. The new technology has a great potential for a wide range of photonic applications because the on/off switching of the diffraction color by the rotating photonic sphere is fast, greatly simplifying the pixel structures. Therefore, the new technology is suitable for very large-scale displays, such as active signage. In their lab experiments, the researchers embedded arrays of spatially ordered magnetic iron oxide nanostructures within each polymer microsphere, enabling its colors to be switched on and off simply by changing the microsphere's orientation - or more precisely the orientation of the array. Furthermore, the new system has the advantage of producing bistable color states, required for making rewritable displays.