Self-assembly of silica colloidal crystal thin films with tuneable structural colours over a wide visible spectrum

In this work, the Stöber process was applied to produce uniform silica nanoparticles (SNPs) in the meso-scale size range. The novel aspect of this work was to control the produced silica particle size by only varying the volume of the solvent ethanol used, whilst fixing the other reaction conditions. Using this one-step Stöber-based solvent varying (SV) method, seven batches of SNPs with target diameters ranging from 70 to 400 nm were repeatedly reproduced, and the size distribution in terms of the polydispersity index (PDI) was well maintained (within 0.1). An exponential equation was used to fit the relationship between the particle diameter and ethanol volume. This equation allows the prediction of the amount of ethanol required in order to produce particles of any target diameter within this size range. In addition, it was found that the reaction was completed in approximately 2 h for all batches regardless of the volume of ethanol. Structurally coloured artificial opal photonic crystals (PCs) were fabricated from the prepared SNPs by self-assembly under gravity sedimentation. Figureᅟ Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11051-016-3691-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…The SEM images and tuneable structural colours of such film samples have been reported elsewhere (Gao et al 2016), as seen in Fig. 7.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Facile control of silica nanoparticles using a novel solvent varying method for the fabrication of artificial opal photonic crystals

2016

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“…Unsurprising, the opal film self-assembled on glass substrates from populations of uniform SNPs in a particular size range shows vivid structural colours due to the Bragg diffraction of white light caused by the ordered FCC structure of the PC. In our previous work (Gao et al 2016b ), structurally coloured silica opal colloidal crystal films have been fabricated, and it was found that the structural colour effect was tuned by the average diameter of SNPs and viewing angle. However, little has been reported about the structural colour properties of the silica PC on textile fabrics.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is necessary to clarify that the suspensions adopted for colouring these samples were prepared using the SV method; the volumes of the solvent ethanol were 47, 53, 60, 67 and 73 ml. Based on our previous work (Gao et al 2016b ), structurally coloured silica opal films, Fig. 7 a–e, were successfully fabricated in petri dishes using the same silica suspensions prepared from the same recipes for producing the coloured fabrics in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The structural coloration of textile materials using self-assembled silica nanoparticles

2017

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The work presented investigates how to produce structural colours on textile materials by applying a surface coating of silica nanoparticles (SNPs). Uniform SNPs with particle diameters in a controlled micron size range (207–350 nm) were synthesized using a Stöber-based solvent varying (SV) method which has been reported previously. Photonic crystals (PCs) were formed on the surface of a piece of textile fabric through a process of natural sedimentation self-assembly of the colloidal suspension containing uniform SNPs. Due to the uniformity and a particular diameter range of the prepared SNPs, structural colours were observed from the fabric surface due to the Bragg diffraction of white light with the ordered structure of the silica PCs. By varying the mean particle diameter, a wide range of spectral colours from red to blue were obtained. The comparison of structural colours on fabrics and on glasses suggests that a smooth substrate is critical when producing materials with high colour intensity and spatial uniformity. This work suggested a promising approach to colour textile materials without the need for traditional dyes and/or pigments. Graphical abstract

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“…However, the silica PCs at submicron level contain specific microstructures, and their mechanical properties are affected by both microsphere size and microstructures. Furthermore, the synthesis of these silica PCs has the same porosities intended to be kept as constant (0.26) because of the FCC structure [41], which indicates that the mechanical properties of silica PCs are mainly affected by the variations of particle size and the intrinsic mechanical parameters of microspheres. However, the deformation under the tip is a complex nonlinear process, including elastic and multiple plastic deformations.…”

Section: Deformation Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Microsphere Size on the Mechanical Properties of Photonic Crystals

et al. 2018

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Photonic crystal (PC) thin films that are self-assembled from different-sized silica microspheres were prepared for studying mechanical properties via nanoindentation at the submicron scale. We found that the silica photonic crystals (PCs) possessed a face-centered cubic (FCC) microstructure and their elastic modulus and hardness were in the range of ~1.81–4.92 GPa and 0.008–0.033 GPa, respectively. The calculated results proved that there were size-dependent properties in the silica PCs, in that the elastic modulus and hardness increased as the diameter decreased from 538 nm to 326 nm. After studying the total work and plastic work in the progressive deformation of silica PCs during the nanoindentation tests, we developed a two-stage deformation model to explain how the microsphere size affects the mechanical properties of PC thin films. The phenomenon of “smaller is stronger” is mainly due to the energy consumption, which combines the effects of microstructure collapse, microsphere slide, and reduced porosity during the whole loading and unloading process. In addition, the results of numerical simulation matched the experimental data and reflected the energy change rules of PCs during the indentation process. Furthermore, the study affords useful guidance for constructing high-performance films with proper design and potential application in next-generation PC materials.

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Self-assembly of silica colloidal crystal thin films with tuneable structural colours over a wide visible spectrum

Cited by 68 publications

References 31 publications

Facile control of silica nanoparticles using a novel solvent varying method for the fabrication of artificial opal photonic crystals

Facile control of silica nanoparticles using a novel solvent varying method for the fabrication of artificial opal photonic crystals

The structural coloration of textile materials using self-assembled silica nanoparticles

Effects of Microsphere Size on the Mechanical Properties of Photonic Crystals

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