Structural Colored Fabric Based on Monodisperse CuO Microspheres.

Structural-colored fabrics have been attracting much attention due to their eco-friendliness, dyelessness, and anti-fading properties. Monodisperse microspheres of metal, metal oxide, and semiconductors are promising materials for creating photonic crystals and structural colors owing to their high refractive indices. Herein, CuO microspheres were prepared by a two-step reduction method at room temperature; the size of CuO microspheres was controlled by changing the molar ratio of citrate to Cu; and the size of CuO microspheres was tuned from 275 nm to 190 nm. The CuO microsphere dispersions were prepared with the monodispersity of CuO microspheres. Furthermore, the effect of the concentration of CuO microsphere and poly(butyl acrylate) on the structural color was also evaluated. Finally, the stability of the structural color against friction and bending was also tested. The results demonstrated that the different structural colors of fabrics were achieved by adjusting the size of the CuO microsphere, and the color fastness of the structural color was improved by using poly(butyl acrylate) as the adhesive.