From chameleons comes the inspiration for a new multicolored and sustainable 3D printing technique: it is based on the use of a single ink, the printing of which can be modulated thanks to ultraviolet light to create a gradient of colors that goes from blue to orange .
The result is published in the journal of the American Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The researchers, coordinated by the chemical and biomolecular engineering expert Ying Diao, created this new 3D printing technique by taking the changing livery of chameleons as a model, whose color is due to the presence of nano-structures that reflect light differently .
"Unlike traditional colors that derive from chemical pigments or dyes that absorb light - explains the first author of the study, Sanghyun Jeon - the structural colors present in many biological systems derive from nanostructured surfaces that interfere with visible light: this makes them livelier and potentially more sustainable".
To reproduce them, the researchers developed a special ink that can be activated by light to form nanoscopic lamellar structures that generate vibrant structural colors.
By modulating the printing using ultraviolet rays, they managed to program the color of the printed material by creating color gradients that were previously impossible.
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