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Materials science

Colour without colourants

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Creating coloured polymer films without the use of pigments might seem impossible. But using miniature polymer spheres, and a novel assembly process, this feat has been accomplished over large film areas.

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Figure 1: Pigment-free colour.

M. NIMMO/FLPA; P. A. SOUDERS/CORBIS; VISUALS UNLIMITED, INC./GERRY BISHOP/GETTY IMAGES; G. ELLIS/MINDEN PICTURES/FLPA

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Correspondence to Paul V. Braun.

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Braun, P. Colour without colourants. Nature 472, 423–424 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/472423a

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