On the 18th, the reporter learned from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Xiamen University that Associate Professor Zheng Jing from Hou Xu's team and Professor Tang Jinyao from the University of Hong Kong have collaborated to develop a new type of active colloid material that can achieve pattern color change by controlling light. This "chameleon" like active intelligent material is more reliable and convenient than traditional chameleon materials, providing a simple method for colored electronic paper and self powered optical camouflage. The relevant research results are published online in the international academic journal Nature. Researchers have introduced that in the application of colored electronic paper, charged color particles exhibit different aggregation and distribution based on the applied voltage, thus being used to display different images and text. The innovation of this achievement lies in the fact that the new material can be influenced by light, that is, by controlling light to achieve different aggregation and dispersion forms of particles to achieve macroscopic color change effects, or to create more complex micron scale structures. Researchers have designed an active colloidal system in which active colloidal particles are encoded with spectral characteristic dyes to form a photochromic colloidal group. The interaction between particles can be flexibly adjusted by combining incident light of different wavelengths and intensities, thereby achieving controllable colloidal aggregation and separation. Inspired by the phenomenon of photochromism in nature, for example, cephalopods rearrange the pigment groups in their skin by sensing environmental lighting conditions, thereby changing their appearance. The research team further formed dynamic photochromic ink by mixing cyan, magenta, and yellow colloids, and achieved photochromism at a macro level. Unlike existing color changing materials, this photochromism is based on the vertical phase layering of photoinduced active colloidal mixtures, which involves the rearrangement of existing components rather than the generation of new chromophores, making it more reliable and programmable. (New News Agency)