Metallic coloration on polyester fabric with sputtered copper and copper oxides films

Coating metal and/or metal oxides film on the surface of textile fabric to produce textiles with structural or metallic colors is an efficient and environmentally benign approach. In this paper, metallic coloration with copper (Cu) and copper oxides (CuxOy) film sputtered on polyester fabric is pursued via a direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering method with different sputtering currents. The coated fabric colors are characterized in the CIE (Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage) 1976 chromaticity space, and the impact of sputtering current on the optical properties was studied. Results indicate that the hue of the copper-coated fabrics varies from pale yellow to yellow while that of the copper oxide-coated fabrics changes from brown to dark red, and further to dark green as the color brightness decreases, which are regarded due to the intrinsic absorption of the film. The color brightness decreases because the reflection of the visible light decreases. The absorption increases due to the increase in the film thickness via the sputtering current. The hue of the copper oxide-coated fabrics is affected by the contents of Cu1+ and Cu2+ ions in the films, which changes via the sputtering current. Copper oxide-coated fabrics have good hydrophobicity, ultraviolet resistance, air permeability, and superior colorfastness to rubbing of grade 3 or above. An approach to fabricate stable colored films on textiles by sputtering was established to bring a new coloration strategy for the traditional textile chemical dyeing and enhance potential applications in other relevant smart textiles.