Hyperspectral and Weather Resistant Biomimetic Leaf Enabled by Interlayer Confinement

Abstract

Mimicking the characteristics and achieving specific functions of biological systems is stirring but challenging. Generally, pigments in the commercial coating can only achieve a similarity in chromaticity, while cannot obtain a similarity in the solar reflective spectrum whose difficulty resides in simulating spectral characteristics simultaneously. Unfortunately, traditional organic pigments show poor weather and heat resistance. Herein, with the little difference in the color difference (ΔEab*), the high spectral similarity, as well as adjustable green peak and similar red edge slope compared with the common plants (pagoda tree leaf, etc.) in 400–2500 nm, is also attained. It is achieved by the interlayer confined organic pigment in Mg/Al‐layered double hydroxide (Mg/Al‐LDH) layers. The corresponding biomimetic leaf displays high hyperspectral performance with a spectral angle cosine of 0.9922 and heat resistance at 120 °C. The longer weather resistance than that of mechanical mixing is also demonstrated. The intercalated chromophores of sodium copper chlorophyllin in the Mg/Al‐LDH and the interlayer confinement of Mg/Al‐LDH contribute to the excellent performance. This work provides a green pigment and a biomimetic leaf requiring the same chromaticity and spectrum as green plants, filling the long‐term use demand gap for heat and weather‐resistant biomimetic vegetation.