A humidity sensitive two-dimensional tunable amorphous photonic structure in the bivalve ligament of Meretrix linnaeus

A humidity sensitive two-dimensional tunable amorphous photonic structure (2D TAPS) in the bivalve ligament of Meretrix linnaeus (LML) was reported in this paper. The structural color and microstructure of LML were investigated by reflection spectra and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The results indicate that the LML has complex structural colors from blue to orange in the wet state from ventral to dorsal, which are derived from the aragonite fiber diameter increases continuously from ventral to dorsal of the ligament. The reflection peak wavelength of the wet LML can blue-shift from 522 nm to 480 nm with the air drying time increased from 0 to 60 min, while the reflectivity decreases gradually and only a weak reflection peak at last, relevant color changes from green to light blue. The structural color in the LML is produced by a two-dimensional amorphous photonic structure consists of aligned aragonite fibers and proteins, in which the diameters of the aragonite fiber and the inter-fiber spacing are 104 ± 11 nm and 126 ± 16 nm, respectively. Water can reversibly tune the reflection peak wavelength and reflectivity of this photonic structure, and the regulation achieved through dynamically tune the degree of order and lattice constant of the ligament in the different wet states.