Advanced Review
Structural colors: from natural to artificial systems
Yulan Fu,
Cary A. Tippets,
Eugenii U. Donev,
Rene Lopez,
Yulan Fu
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCary A. Tippets
Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEugenii U. Donev
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Rene Lopez
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Correspondence to: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorYulan Fu,
Cary A. Tippets,
Eugenii U. Donev,
Rene Lopez,
Yulan Fu
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCary A. Tippets
Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEugenii U. Donev
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Rene Lopez
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Correspondence to: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorConflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.
Abstract
Structural coloration has attracted great interest from scientists and engineers in recent years, owing to fascination with various brilliant examples displayed in nature as well as to promising applications of bio-inspired functional photonic structures and materials. Much research has been done to reveal and emulate the physical mechanisms that underlie the structural colors found in nature. In this article, we review the fundamental physics of many natural structural colors displayed by living organisms as well as their bio-inspired artificial counterparts, with emphasis on their connections, tunability strategies, and proposed applications, which aim to maximize the technological benefits one could derive from these photonic nanostructures. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2016, 8:758–775. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1396
This article is categorized under:
- Diagnostic Tools > Biosensing
- Diagnostic Tools > In Vitro Nanoparticle-Based Sensing
- Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology
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