Thermal-guided interfacial confinement to fabricate flexible structural color composites for durable applications

Purpose Structural color is more brilliant in color, more resistant to sunshine and will not fade away with time, and more environmental friendly than traditional dyes and pigments. The purpose of this paper is to prepare structural colors of fabrics coated with Ag/TiO2 composite films by magnetron sputtering, and analyze the relationship between the colors and the thicknesses of TiO2 films in Ag/TiO2 composite films. Design/methodology/approach Preparation of Ag/TiO2 composite films by magnetron sputtering and their deposition on textiles were investigated. The chemical compositions and surface morphology of Ag/TiO2 composite films were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and the structural color of fabric coated with Ag/TiO2 composite film was also analyzed. Findings Ag/TiO2 composite films deposited on textile substrate exhibited structural colors, and the bright colors could be adjusted and controlled by the thickness of TiO2 thin films in Ag/TiO2 composite films without any dyes or pigments. By comparing the results of theoretical calculation and experimental results, it was found that the creation of structural colors by the experiment was coincident to the colors by theoretical calculation according to the film interference principle. There was a linear relationship between the thickness of TiO2 film and the wavelength of the structural color. Originality/value Compared to traditional coloration by dyes or pigments, the coloration of textile by structural color from Ag/TiO2 composite films prepared by magnetron sputtering was very environmental friendly and simple without water consuming, time consuming and tedious work. Structural colors have great potential applications in textiles in place of traditional dyes and pigments. Furthermore, the textiles coated with Ag/TiO2 composite films have good electrical, optical and magnetic properties, and can be used in apparel, home furnishings and industrial fabrics.

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Multiresponsive Elastic Colloidal Crystals for Reversible Structural Color Patterns

Advanced Functional Materials ◽

10.1002/adfm.201902954 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (39) ◽

pp. 1902954 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Junlong Liao ◽

Cun Zhu ◽

Bingbing Gao ◽

Ze Zhao ◽

Xiaojiang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colloidal Crystals ◽

Structural Color ◽

Color Patterns

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Bioinspired Structural Color Patterns Derived from 1D Photonic Crystals with High Saturation and Brightness for Double Anti-Counterfeiting Decoration

ACS Applied Polymer Materials ◽

10.1021/acsapm.0c00047 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 1605-1613 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Wei Ma ◽

Yusheng Kou ◽

Peng Zhao ◽

Shufen Zhang

Keyword(s):

Photonic Crystals ◽

Structural Color ◽

Color Patterns ◽

High Saturation

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Large-Area Fabrication of Structurally Colored and Humidity Sensitive Composite Nanofilm via Ultrasonic Spray-Coating

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13213768 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (21) ◽

pp. 3768

Author(s):

Sijun Li ◽

Donghui Kou ◽

Shufen Zhang ◽

Wei Ma

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Composite Films ◽

Spray Coating ◽

Processing Parameters ◽

Water Vapor Adsorption ◽

Silicon Wafers ◽

Structural Color ◽

Large Area ◽

Structural Colors ◽

Ultrasonic Spray

Intelligent structural colors have received extensive attention in recent years due to their diverse applications. However, the large-area, uniform, and cost-effective fabrication of ultra-thin structural color films is still challenging. Here, for the first time, we design and employ an ultrasonic spray-coating technique with non-toxic, green nano-silica and polyvinylpyrrolidone as raw materials, to prepare structural color films on silicon wafers. Due to the addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone, the coffee-ring effect during droplet drying is suppressed and uniform composite films are formed. We further perform a detailed study of the influence of various processing parameters including silica/polyvinylpyrrolidone concentration, substrate temperature, nozzle-to-substrate distance, and number of spray-passes on film roughness and thickness. By increasing the number of spray-passes from 10 to 30, the film thickness from 120 to 340 nm is modulated, resulting in different colors, and large-area and uniform colors on commercial round silicon wafers with 15 cm diameter are achieved. The silica/polyvinylpyrrolidone composite films show strong hydrophilicity and are sensitive to humidity changes, leading to quickly tunable and reversible structural colors. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation demonstrates water vapor adsorption and condensation on the nanofilm when increasing environmental humidity. Thereby, ultrasonic spray-coating as a novel film fabrication technique provides a feasible scheme for large-area preparation of intelligent structural colors.

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Robust and flexible thermal-plasticizing 3D shaped composite films with invariable and brilliant structural color

Journal of Materials Chemistry C ◽

10.1039/c8tc03943g ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (47) ◽

pp. 12814-12821 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Shu-Zhen Yu ◽

Wen-Bin Niu ◽

Su-Li Wu ◽

Wei Ma ◽

Shu-Fen Zhang

Keyword(s):

Composite Film ◽

Composite Films ◽

Structural Color ◽

Inorganic Hybrid ◽

Hybrid Matrix ◽

Matrix Design

We present a novel flexible thermal-plasticizing 3D shaped composite film with invariable structural color through an organic–inorganic hybrid matrix design.

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