Patent ID: 11890585
Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  C | IPC B

Claim 18:
19. A method of forming a biliquid material, the method comprising
forming an emulsion comprising a plurality of droplets of a dispersed liquid phase in a continuous liquid phase;
reducing an ionic strength of the continuous liquid phase with a surface-stabilizing material that imparts a repulsive interaction between the plurality of droplets that inhibits coalescence of the plurality of droplets; and
adjusting a combination of a spatial range of the repulsive interaction, a strength of the repulsive interaction, an average droplet radius of the emulsion, a radial size polydispersity of the emulsion, a refractive index difference between the continuous liquid phase and the dispersed liquid phase, and a droplet volume fraction of the emulsion to provide the biliquid material with an ordered structurally-colored droplets structure that yields one or more structural colors when illuminated with broad-spectrum light;, wherein:
the dispersed liquid phase is immiscible with the continuous liquid phase;
the surface-stabilizing material is a surfactant, a lipid, a co-polymer, or a combination of two or more thereof;
the surface-stabilizing material is soluble in at least one of the continuous liquid phase and the dispersed liquid phase and the surface-stabilizing material adsorbs at the surfaces of the plurality of droplets; and
the ordered structurally-colored droplets structure is hyperuniform, crystalline with long-range order, poly-crystalline with long-range order, non-crystalline with medium-range order, non-crystalline with short-range order, or a combination of two or more thereof; and
the one or more structural colors arise from diffraction of the broad-spectrum light by the plurality of droplets.