Both temperature-responsive and patterned photonic coatings are receiving a lot of attention from a fundamental and application point of view. However, the fabrication of multicolor patterns, which are also temperature-responsive, remains challenging. The current work presents a thermochromic photonic coating with light polarization-dependent multiple structural colors from a polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal siloxane oligomer. It is found that the structural color and the temperature response can be manipulated by varying the polymerization temperature, allowing the fabrication of thermochromic multicolor patterns. During heating, each color starts shifting at a different temperature until the sample is entirely blue at a high temperature. Upon cooling, the multicolor pattern returns, showing that the thermochromic response is reversible. On top of that, linearly polarized light dependency is also obtained, showing different reflection colors when varying the incident light polarization angles. A multicolor, thermochromic photonic coating with light polarization- and structural color-dependent features is fabricated for demonstration.@en

The fabrication of reversible and robust thermochromic coatings remains challenging. In this work, a temperature-responsive photonic coating with a protective topcoat is fabricated. A cholesteric oligosiloxane liquid crystal possessing a smectic-to-cholesteric phase-transition temperature response is synthesized. A planar alignment of its cholesteric phase is possible with blade coating. By stabilizing with 3 wt % of a crosslinked liquid crystal network, the photonic coating shows a color change ranging from red to blue upon heating. High transparency is retained, and the structural color changes are fully reversible. A transparent polysiloxane layer can be directly applied on top of the cholesteric layer to protect it against damage without affecting its optical properties. This approach satisfies the basic requirements of thermochromic polymer coatings, as it combines easy processability, coating robustness, and a reversible temperature response. @en

A temperature-responsive near-infrared reflective coating was fabricated based on a side-chain liquid crystal siloxane polymer using a simple wired-bar method. The cholesteric liquid crystalline polymer film showed a blue shift of the reflection band of 1000 nm in the IR region upon heating. The temperature-responsive change of the reflection band was reversible. Compared to that of the same mixture system in an alignment cell, the coating showed a significantly faster response. This research demonstrates an easy way to prepare a temperature-responsive IR-reflective coating that shifts its reflection to a shorter wavelength upon heating. As IR radiation of shorter wavelengths is more strongly represented in sunlight than longer wavelengths, this coating could be used to selectively reduce heating of an indoor space when the temperature is high. This is promising for the future application of smart climate control.@en