Bioinspired Synergistic Texture and Color Modulation Enabled by Surface Instability of Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Elastomers

TL;DR

This paper introduces a bioinspired bilayer material that dynamically modulates surface texture and color through programmable wrinkling and chemical patterning, enabling multifunctional optical and thermal regulation.

Contribution

It presents a novel CLCE-LCE bilayer system capable of reversible, spatially selective texture and color modulation via surface instabilities and chemical patterning, advancing multifunctional smart materials.

Findings

Achieved programmable, reversible surface wrinkling and color changes.

Enabled localized surface textures and color responses through UV curing and chemical patterning.

Demonstrated strain-dependent multiscale encoding for visual content under different strains.

Abstract

Certain cephalopods can dynamically camouflage by altering both skin texture and color to match their surroundings. Inspired by this capability, we present a cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer-liquid crystal elastomer (CLCE-LCE) bilayer capable of simultaneous, reversible modulation of surface texture and structural color through programmable wrinkling. By tuning the bilayer's fabrication parameters, on-demand wrinkle morphologies and color combinations are achieved. Spatially selective UV curing allows localized surface textures, while chemical patterning of the CLCE layer enables region-specific color responses, expanding the design space for multifunctional, spatially encoded optical materials. The CLCE-LCE bilayer enables dynamic thermal regulation by tuning light absorption through synergistically modulating surface morphology and color. Notably, this system achieves strain-dependent multiscale encoding via multistep selective UV curing, revealing distinct visual content under different applied strains. This work establishes a versatile platform that merges surface instabilities with tunable structural coloration, advancing intelligent materials with programmable, strain-responsive surface and optical properties.