Structural color is frequently exploited by living organisms for biological functions and has also been translated into synthetic materials as a more durable and less hazardous alternative to conventional pigments. Additive manufacturing approaches were recently exploited for the fabrication of exquisite photonic objects, but the angle-dependence observed limits a broader application of structural color in synthetic systems. Here, we propose a manufacturing platform for the 3D printing of complex-shaped objects that display isotropic structural color generated from photonic colloidal glasses. Structurally colored objects are printed from colloidal inks containing monodisperse silica particles, carbon black, and a polymer phase. Rheology and small-angle-X-Ray-scattering measurements are performed to identify the processing conditions leading to printed objects with tunable structural colors. Multimaterial printing is eventually used to create complex-shaped objects with multiple structural colors using silica and carbon as abundant and sustainable building blocks.

---

Bio

Ahmet studied Chemistry at the Bilkent University of Ankara. He completed a master's degree at the same institute with a direction of Materials Chemistry. He moved to the Netherlands for his PhD in the "Soft Condensed Matter" group of Alfons van Blaaderen at Utrecht University, where he studied the assembly of anisotropic colloidal particles under external fields.
After his PhD degree, he went to the USA for a postdoc at Northwestern University. In 2014, he started with an SNSF Ambizione grant at ETH Zurich, Complex Materials group. He is now a senior scientist at the University of Fribourg and explores colloids and soft materials with inspiration from nature.