Rapid preparation of structural color coatings on flexible textiles by simple vacuum-assisted filtration self-assembly

Abstract

Biomimetic structural colors have demonstrated significant practical promise in eco-friendly coloring. However, the development of novel, simple, and effective methods for the fabrication of photonic crystal structural colors remains an enormous challenge, particularly for flexible substrates . In this work, we prepared structural color coatings with bright, full-color, and low angle dependence on flexible textile substrates via simple vacuum-assisted filtration self-assembly (VAFS). The resultant photonic crystals were polycrystalline structures containing both face-centered cubic (FCC), simple cubic (SC), and amorphous structures (APS), resulting in structural color coatings with bright and low angle dependence. The precise regulation of different hues of structural colors can be achieved by changing the size of microspheres or mixing of microspheres with different sizes. Furthermore, various microspheres (e. g., SiO 2 , SiO 2 @PDA or P (St-MMA-AA)) and fabrics (cotton, linen, silk or wool fabric) can be utilized as self-assembly materials to create structural color coatings, demonstrating the simplicity, low-cost, and great compatibility. Meanwhile, this method may also be applied to the preparation of structural color coatings on substrates with pores, expanding the application of structural colors in various fields. • An efficient strategy for obtaining structural color coating on flexible textiles. • The resultant photonic crystal structures are a polycrystalline structure. • The prepared structural color coatings have low angle dependence. • This method has good compatibility with different kinds of microspheres and fabrics.