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Recent advances of photonic crystals are driven to mechanical sensors and smart wearable devices; however, for chiral photonic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) materials, vivid structural coloration and reversible mechanochromism like chameleon skin remain a big challenge. Here, we report a ternary co-assembly and post-UV-irradiation polymerization strategy to develop flexible and elastic CNC composite films, which, notably, have naked-eye-visible brilliant structural colors and stretching-induced color change covering a broad wavelength region at a moderate deformation (like skin). By adjusting the stretching, the film is designed as a smart skin to adapt to surrounding environments for camouflage. This work offers a universal strategy for constructing biomimic optically functional cellulose skins.

BaTiO3-based ferroelectrics have been extensively studied due to their large dielectric constants and a high saturated polarization, which have the potential to store or supply electricity of very high energy and power densities. In order to further improve the energy efficiency η and the recyclable energy density Wrec, an A, B-site co-doped (Ba0.95,Sr0.05)(Zr0.2,Ti0.8)O3 ceramic target was used for sputter deposition of film capacitor structures on Si. This film composition reduces the remnant polarization Pr, while the choice of a low-temperature, templated sputtering process facilitates the formation of high-density arrays of columnar nanograins (average diameter d ∼20 nm) and grain boundary dead layers. This self-assembled nanostructure further delays the saturation of the electric polarization, leading to a high energy density Wrec of ∼148 J/cm3 and a high energy efficiency η of ∼90%. Moreover, the (Ba0.95,Sr0.05)(Zr0.2,Ti0.8)O3 film capacitors retain their high energy storage performance in a broad range of working temperature (-175-300 °C) and operating frequency (1 Hz-20 kHz). They are also fatigue-free after up to 2 × 109 switching cycles. Our work provides a new method and a cost-effective processing route for the creation and integration of high-performance dielectric capacitors for energy storage applications.