The conventional
photonic crystals (PCs) are usually prepared by
the self-assembly of silica or polystyrene particles. However, their
applications are limited significantly due to the lack of the functions
of the building blocks. Here, a new kind of photo-luminescent photonic
crystals (PLPCs) with brilliant PL and structural colors were prepared
by the self-assembly of dye-doped silica particles. The PL and structural
colors of PCs can be well-controlled by altering the species of dyes
and the size of the particles, respectively. Based on these advantages,
PLPC patterns with encrypted information were fabricated through the
combination of PLPCs and PCs with similar structural colors but diverse
PL colors. These patterns can reversibly hide and display the encrypted
information under sunlight and UV illumination, respectively. This
work paves a new way for constructing functional PCs and will promote
their applications in anti-counterfeiting, smart labels, and optical
devices.