Abstract
Abstract Smart chromatic materials with optical transmittances that can be modified by light scattering upon external stimuli are attracting extensive interest because of their appealing applications in smart windows, privacy protection, electronic displays, etc. However, the development of these scatterers, which are mostly activated by electric fields, is hindered by their intrinsic energy consumption, slow responses, and poor stability. Recently, mechanoresponsive scatterers based on a strain-driven reconfiguration of the surface or internal structure have emerged, featuring fast responses and a simple composition/fabrication. Because there is no energy consumption to maintain the transparency/opacity, this novel scheme for scatterers holds great promise to break the existing bottleneck. This article presents recent advances in the development of mechanoresponsive scatterers and compares different structural design strategies. The scatterers are categorized into 2D, 3D, and other types according to the dimensions of their functioning structures. The fabrication methods, mechanisms, and relationships between the structural parameters and optical modulating performances are discussed for each category. Next, the potential applications of these scatterers are outlined. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the mainstream 2D and 3D categories are summarized, followed by a perspective on future research directions.
Highlights
Light scattering is one of the physical processes associated with the visible appearance of most objects in the world, with the other being light absorption [1,2,3]
A pure white color and even remarkable color-changing features for the surface of objects owe their appearance to the dynamic control of visible light transmission by light scattering from internal and/or surface inhomogeneities such as texture, roughness, and refractive index mismatched components
It was found that when the same strain was applied, significantly larger gaps were generated in the heterogeneous composite, while those in the homogeneous composite were negligible. Such an effect was magnified in the interdigitated 3D structure, making the nanocomposite highly sensitive when used as a mechanoresponsive scatterer
Summary
Light scattering is one of the physical processes associated with the visible appearance of most objects in the world, with the other being light absorption [1,2,3]. Normal transmittance refers to the transmitted portion of the incident light that is not scattered and is important because it determines how well the spectral information of the light is maintained Their high-contrast optical switching performances have already been commercialized, the chemical/mechanical instability, long response time, and fabrication complexity have been considered to be bottlenecks for their practical usage [8]. It is imperative to summarize the fabrication methods, working mechanisms, structural effects on the mechano-optical behaviors, and emerging applications of mechanoresponsive scatterers to provide guidelines for developing next-generation mechanochromic devices and flexible displays. To address this gap, this review considers the recent progress in mechanoresponsive scatterers.
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