This review focuses on the structural color induced by colloidal assembly at the generation, modulation, and application stages, along with the authors' perspectives on the challenges and future opportunities.

A hybrid mesoporous photonic crystal vapor sensing chip was developed by introducing fluorescent dyes into mesoporous colloidal crystals. The sensing chip was capable of discriminating various kinds of vapors, as well as their concentrations, according to their fluorescence and reflective responses to vapor analytes.