Self-Healable Poly(vinyl alcohol) Photonic Crystal Hydrogel

A self-healable poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gelated crystalline colloidal array (GCCA) photonic crystal hydrogel was presented. The GCCA material efficiently diffracted visible light, and the structural color change induced by tensile stress could be easily distinguished by the naked eye. We proved that the multicolored GCCA with three-dimensional (3D) complex shapes could be prepared on a large scale through self-healing, and invisible quantum dots could be printed within the interfaces of the healed photonic crystal (PC) hydrogels, thus providing a method for the construction of multilevel PC structures with complex optical properties, such as heterostructures, secondary colors, and photonic printings.