Material that changes colour when twisted or stretched

24 June 2016

Researchers have devised a new method for stacking microscopic marbles into regular layers, producing materials which scatter light into intense colours, and which change colour when twisted or stretched. The team has invented a way to make such sheets on industrial scales, opening up applications including banknote security and packaging applications. Some of the brightest colours in nature can be found in opal gemstones, butterfly wings and beetles. These materials get their colour not from dyes or pigments, but from the systematically-ordered microstructures they contain. An article about the research is published in Nature Communications (News Item University of Cambridge, 3 June 2016).
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