Active modulation of reflective structural colors

Abstract

Dynamically controllable reflective structural colors have been garnering growing attention due to increasing commercial interests in smart displays (e.g., colorimetric labels), colored e-readers, etc. To comply with the requirements of future displays, several strategies have been proposed by various research groups to achieve wide color tuning ranges in the visible regime, high on/off contrast ratios, and fast response times. In this review, we first introduce ways to create optical resonances including plasmonic, photonic, and plasmonic–photonic hybrid structures that form the basis of color generation. We then outline strategies that control the refractive index contrast between the system and the surrounding as a means to actively change the reflective structural colors, backed with representative examples from the literature. Finally, we provide a comparison of dynamic structural colors based on various switching mechanisms summarizing performance metrics that are important for future displays, and conclude with an outlook on current challenges.