Designing composite films of SiO2/TiO2/PDMS with long lasting invariable colors and enhanced mechanical robustness

Abstract

Structurally colored films with invariable color, excellent mechanical robustness and liquids impermeable property have received extensive attentions due to its great advantages in practical application. However, colored films from the same opal or inverse opal structure always have different colored appearances. This character makes the color controlling become very complicated. This study presents an effective approach for fabricating PCs films with invariable colors by infiltrating TiO2 and PDMS into PCs of hollow SiO2 and followed with a curing process. The obtained films exhibit several advantages, such as enhanced color saturation, the same color with its original PS@SiO2 PCs templates, widen full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM), long lasting invariable colors and enhanced mechanical robustness. Additionally, the combination of hydrophobicity and tunable stop-bands is significant for potential application in paint and external decoration of architectures. The present results open new vistas for the research of functional films.