Table 1.

Categories of Structural Colors Classified by Principle

Type of Structural Color	Principle of Color Generation	Properties	Shortcomings
Multilayer films	•interference	•large-area fabrication •simple fabrication process	•sensitive to viewing angle •limited resolution
F-P cavity	•cavity resonance	•high saturation and brightness •polarization independent	•difficult to achieve high resolution at low cost
Dielectric metasurfaces and photonic crystals	•Mie scattering •Fano resonance	•high saturation and efficiency •insensitive to viewing angle	•difficult achieve to low-cost, large-scale production
Metallic metasurfaces	•surface plasma resonance •localized surface plasma resonance	•polarization dependence •high resolution •insensitive to viewing angle	•low efficiency due to the inherent loss of metal materials
GMR structure	•guide mode resonance	•high efficiency •favorable color purity	•limited resolution •sensitive to viewing angle