Chameleon-inspired structural coloration of textiles with non-close-packed photonic crystals for high color saturation and color fastness

Photonic crystals (PCs) as eco-friendly structural coloring materials have great application potential in the textile coloration. However, the difficulties in scale production of structurally colored fabrics with PCs, as well as in achieving the balance between the structural stability and optical properties of PCs, limit the widespread use of such textiles. Herein, inspired by chameleon skin, the structural coloration of textiles with non-close-packed PCs was designed and prepared. The soft-shell and hard-core PS@P(MMA-BA) nanospheres were designed and prepared via stepwise emulsion polymerization for constructing soft non-close-packed PCs. The liquid photonic crystals (LPCs) were controllably prepared using a rotary evaporation/surfactant method. Therewith, the designed step by step self-assembly method enabled one to realize the controllable assembly of the nanospheres on the fabric surface, whereby the non-close-packed PCs with the cross-linked hard core as the skeleton and the fused soft shell as the filling medium were obtained. On the basis of step by step self-assembly, large-scale structurally colored fabric with non-close-packed PCs was prepared by continuous pilot equipment. The prepared structurally colored textiles possess high structural stability and color saturation, as well as the mechanochromic properties, and has the potential as a smart textile.