Kinetically Controlled Supramolecular Block Copolymer Self-Assembly:Multicolor Photonic Crystal Patterns from a Single Formulation

Photonic crystal(PC)patterns with tunable and changeable nonvolatile structural colors printed from a single ink are of great interest for optical products but have rarely been reported because most inks can only output one respective structural color.Herein,we propose a facile yet effective kinetically controlled self-assembly strategy to address this challenge.An ink formulation containing supramolecular block copolymers(SBCPs)is developed.SBCP patterns were printed by direct-ink-writing followed by solvent annealing to generate different structural colors by simply controlling the annealing time.The self-assembly kinetic regime suggests that different colors result from various kinetically trapped metastable states.In turn,the variation in structural color enables“visualization”of the self-assembly dynamics.Furthermore,we demonstrate that these kinetically trapped structures exhibit different responsive color-change behaviors.In addition,this kinetic control strategy can be synergistic with thermodynamic control to extend the color range.This study provides a facile yet effective solution for well-designed PC patterns with tunable,responsive,and unfading colors printed from the simplest single-nozzle printer with a single colorless ink,presenting great potential in broad applications,including information storage,encryption,and anti-fake.