Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tough, structurally colored fabrics produced by photopolymerization

  • Polymers
  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Structural coloration from photonic crystals (PCs) has attracted great interests owing to the chemical colorants-free process and highly brilliant color effects. However, the poor durability of the structural color severely restrains its practical applications. Based on this, a photopolymerization process to form polymer network structure was tactfully introduced in fabricating tough PCs on fabric substrates. The differences of surface morphology, tensile strength, binding strength and structural colors between poly(styrene-methacrylate) (P(St-MAA)) PCs and resultant P(St-MAA) PCs (named PHEA@P(St-MAA) PCs) were detailedly investigated and characterized. The results show that poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) film is formed by photocross-linking reaction with diphenyl (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide as initiator on the surface and interstices of P(St-MAA) PCs, which effectively improves the tensile strength and binding strength of P(St-MAA) PCs on fabric substrates. The PHEA@P(St-MAA) PCs display brilliant structural colors and obvious iridescence as well, although become red-shifted in accordance with Bragg’s law. It is concluded that this research will offer theoretical basis and practical guidance for the fabrication of the tough photonic crystals on fabric substrates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Yablonovitch E (1987) Inhibited spontaneous emission in solid-state physics and electronics. Phys Rev Lett 58(20):2059–2062

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. John S (1987) Strong localization of photons in certain disordered dielectric superlattices. Phys Rev Lett 58(23):2486–2490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hou J, Li M, Song Y (2018) Patterned colloidal photonic crystals. Angew Chem Int Ed 57(10):2544–2553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhao Y, Shang L, Cheng Y, Gu Z (2014) Spherical colloidal photonic crystals. Acc Chem Res 47(12):3632–3642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wang H, Zhang KQ (2013) Photonic crystal structures with tunable structure color as colorimetric sensors. Sensors 13(4):4192–4213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chen G, Yi B, Huang Y, Liang Q, Shen H (2019) Development of bright and low angle dependence structural colors from order-disorder hierarchical photonic structure. Dyes Pigments 161:464–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Boyle BM, French TA, Pearson RM, McCarthy BG, Miyake GM (2017) Structural color for additive manufacturing: 3D-printed photonic crystals from block copolymers. ACS Nano 11(3):3052–3058

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Diao YY, Liu XY, Toh GW, Shi L, Zi J (2013) Multiple structural coloring of silk-fibroin photonic crystals and humidity-responsive color sensing. Adv Funct Mater 23(43):5373–5380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Liu G, Zhou L, Zhang G, Li Y, Chai L, Fan Q, Shao J (2016) Fabrication of patterned photonic crystals with brilliant structural colors on fabric substrates using ink-jet printing Technology. Mater Des 114:10–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gao W, Rigout M, Owens H (2017) Optical properties of cotton and nylon fabrics coated with silica photonic crystals. Opt Mater Express 7(2):341–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhang H, Liu X (2017) Preparation and self-assembly of photonic crystals on polyester fabrics. Iran Polym J 26(2):107–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Yavuz G, Zille A, Seventekin N, Souto AP (2018) Structural coloration of chitosan coated cellulose fabrics by electrostatic self-assembled poly(styrene-methyl methacrylate-acrylic acid) photonic crystals. Carbohydr Polym 193:343–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Shi X, He J, Xie X, Dou R, Lu X (2019) Photonic crystals with vivid structure color and robust mechanical strength. Dyes Pigments 165:137–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Saito A, Miyamura Y, Nakajima M, Ishikawa Y (2006) Reproduction of the Morpho blue by nanocasting lithography. J Vac Sci Technol B 24(6):3248–3251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Wang P, Pan C (2001) Emulsion copolymerization of styrene with acrylic or methacrylic acids-distribution of the carboxylic group. Colloid Polym Sci 279(1):98–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhou L, Liu G, Wu Y, Fan Q, Shao J (2014) The synthesis of core-shell monodisperse P(St-MAA) microspheres and fabrication of photonic crystals structure with tunable colors on polyester fabrics. Fiber Polym 15(6):1112–1122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Liu G, Zhou L, Wu Y, Wang C, Fan Q, Shao J (2015) The fabrication of full color P (S t-MAA) photonic crystal structure on polyester fabrics by vertical deposition self-assembly. J Appl Polym Sci 132(13):4385–4393

    Google Scholar 

  18. ASTM Standard E2539-12 (2012) Standard practice for multiangle color measurement of interference pigments. ASTM International, West Conshohocken. https://doi.org/10.1520/e2539-12

    Google Scholar 

  19. Liu G, Zhou L, Wu Y, Wang C, Fan Q, Shao J (2015) Optical properties of three-dimensional P (St-MAA) photonic crystals on polyester fabrics. Opt Mater 42:72–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Liu G, Zhou L, Fan Q, Chai L, Shao J (2016) The vertical deposition self-assembly process and the formation mechanism of poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid) photonic crystals on polyester fabrics. J Mater Sci 51(6):2859–2868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9594-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Pawar AA, Saada G, Cooperstein I, Larush L, Jackman JA, Tabaei SR, Cho NJ, Magdassi S (2016) High-performance 3D printing of hydrogels by water-dispersible photoinitiator nanoparticles. Sci Adv 2(4):1381–1387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Wohlleben W, Bartels FW, Boyle M, Leyrer RJ (2008) Covalent and physical cross-linking of photonic crystals with 10-fold-enhanced chemomechanical stability. Langmuir 24(10):5627–5635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Decker C (1996) Photoinitiated crosslinking polymerisation. Prog Polym Sci 21(4):593–650

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Richel A, Johnson NP, McComb DW (2000) Observation of Bragg reflection in photonic crystals synthesized from air spheres in a titania matrix. Appl Phys Lett 76(14):1816–1818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Waterhouse GIN, Waterland MR (2007) Opal and inverse opal photonic crystals: fabrication and characterization. Polyhedron 26(2):356–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We were sincerely grateful to the financial support from Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LQ19E030022); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51403188 and 51773181); Excellent Youth Talents Fund Project from Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology (Zhejiang Sci-Tech University), Ministry of Education (2017QN01); The Fund for the Excellent Doctoral Program of Zhejiang Provincial Top Key Academic Discipline of Chemical Engineering and Technology in Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (CETT2017001); The Research Startup Fund of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Guojin Liu & Lan Zhou

  2. Engineering Research Center for Eco-Dyeing and Finishing of Textiles, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Guojin Liu, Yong Guo, Lan Zhou & Yu Wu

  3. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Fiber Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Guojin Liu

  4. School of Textile Science and Engineering, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an, 710048, People’s Republic of China

    Meiyu Chen

  5. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Zehua He

Authors
  1. Guojin Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yong Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lan Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yu Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Meiyu Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zehua He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lan Zhou or Meiyu Chen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, G., Guo, Y., Zhou, L. et al. Tough, structurally colored fabrics produced by photopolymerization. J Mater Sci 54, 10929–10940 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03594-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03594-6

Search

Navigation