Structural color is the general term of the phenomenon of coloring due to reflection, interference, diffraction, and scattering of light. It fundamentally differs from the usual coloring by dyestuffs or pigments. Typical structural colors are observed as the reflection of light from the three dimensional crystal lattice that is formed from fine particles of sub-micron size. This study was performed to prepare this type of structural color. We produced monodispersed acrylic particles by emulsion polymerization, and particle size was controlled precisely. The crystal alignment of these particles was achieved by two methods. One is utilizing capillarity which occurs when the emulsion dries, and the other is electrophoresis. Moreover, in order to absorb the scattered light occurring inside the crystal, the particles were dyed with some dyestuffs. By both methods, we succeeded to obtain crystals with beautiful structural colors.
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