Abstract

Photonic crystals play the vital role in structural color appearance, and they can be fabricated on polymer substrates. In this paper, monodispersed SiO2 microspheres with the average diameter ranging from 150 to 300 nm were prepared by classical Stober method. The spherical size of SiO2 microspheres was regulated by controlling concentrations of ammonia. The tunable structural colors could be changed by modulating the diameters of SiO2 microspheres or viewing angles, which adhered to the law of the Bragg diffraction. As a kind of polymer fabric, the polyester fabrics, smoother than natural fiber fabrics, exhibited bright structural colors from the well-ordered photonic crystal microstructure by vertical deposition self-assembly of SiO2 photonic crystals. Moreover, the result indicated that the difference of fabric-woven structure could affect the lightness of structure color, and the lightness on satin fabric was duller than that of plain fabric. Besides, we have also discussed the influence of fabric structure on the lightness of structure color using the theory of thin film interference. It is believed that the structural color could provide a new strategy for related polymer product coloration without chemical dyes and pigments, and has a potential to reduce the pollution in related polymer materials dyeing and printing processes.

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