Carina’s and Gudrun’s recent article has been featured on the cover of Advanced Materials Interfaces!

Carina’s and Gudrun’s recent article has been featured on the cover of Advanced Materials Interfaces! In this paper, we demonstrate how to enhance optical effects by integrating Polydopamine (PDA), a synthetic melanin, into photonic crystals. PDA is incorporated in two ways: by gradually increasing PDA shells in core-shell particles while maintaining a constant total diameter to create homogeneous crystals, and by co-assembling varying ratios of polystyrene (PS) and absorbing PS@PDA particles for heterogeneous crystals. Chromaticity analysis in the L*a*b* color sphere reveals structures with optimal color saturation. Simulations suggest that homogeneous absorber distribution is most efficient, yet heterogeneous incorporation outperforms it, allowing for precise adjustment of absorber content. These findings underscore the significance of absorber integration, offering efficient methods for preparing colloidal photonic crystals with saturated structural colors.