Structural color is a color produced by the interaction between microscopic physical structure and natural light (such as scattering, interference, diffraction, etc.). Compared with traditional chemical colors, structural colors can completely avoid the use of dyes or pigments, which is a more environmentally friendly and stable color rendering method.
However, the realization of artificial structural colors requires high-precision control of nano-color-generating structures with the help of advanced micro-nano processing technology or assembly methods. The cost is high and the process is complicated, which greatly hinders the wide application of structural colors.
In addition, in order to promote the application and expansion of structural colors, it is necessary to prepare structural color pixels into ordered images. However, structural color pixels are composed of many micro-nano structures with different periods and morphologies. Precisely preparing and integrating into a characteristic color image is quite challenging.
Researchers Song Yanlin and Li Mingzhu of the Green Printing Laboratory of the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Fudan University professor Shi Lei, etc., have precisely controlled the forming and printing of tiny droplets (that is, precisely controlling the wettability of the printing substrate and the volume of the tiny droplets to control the printing ink. The morphology of the droplet) and the analysis of the mechanism of total internal reflection optical microstructure color, and developed a method of printing full-color structural color images using transparent polymer ink.
This method breaks through the cognition about color printing (different inks are needed to present different colors), and only a transparent polymer ink is used to realize the precise preparation of full-color color pixels. In addition, the research solves the problem that the structural color is difficult to achieve special colors such as brown, white, and silver by virtue of the precise distribution of the spatial position of the microscopic pixels.
Researchers have explored the corresponding laws of microstructure morphology, color and gray scale, and used high-precision inkjet printing to achieve precise formation of ink droplets. Without adding any dyes and pigments, various vivid color portrait patterns can be printed. This method has universal applicability. The polymer materials that can be made into transparent inks can be applied to the printing of this full-color structural color pattern. It is the structural color in the fields of color printing, display, anti-counterfeiting, and high-sensitivity sensing. The application provides a whole new way of thinking.
Recently, related research results were published on Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh1992). The research work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
(Editor in charge: admin)
0 Comments for “Sub-Journal of “Science” of Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Print out full-color structural color patterns with transparent ink”