Related resources
Search for item elsewhere
University researcher(s)
Academic department(s)
The Fabrication of Structurally Coloured Textile Materials Using Uniform Spherical Silica Nanoparticles
[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2016.
Access to files
- FULL-TEXT.PDF (pdf)
Abstract
Natural precious opals consist of silica nanoparticles of uniform diameter organised in a periodic three-dimensional structure. The physical structure of the material produces the perceived colour by a process of light diffraction. The modification of light by the physical structure of the material is also known as structural colour. This is a different process from how most surface colours are produced where light is more usually absorbed by dye and/or pigment molecules. Desirable aesthetic qualities could be achieved if the structural colours produced by natural opals could be replicated in the form of a film or a coating on textile substrates.The work presented investigates how to produce structurally coloured textiles using surface applications of uniform spherical silica nanoparticles (USSNPs). A novel one-step solvent varying (SV) technique has been developed to synthesise USSNPs with particle diameters in a controlled size range. Using suspensions containing USSNPs, structurally coloured artificial opal (AO) films have been fabricated by self-assembly using a process of natural gravity sedimentation. The sedimentation of a particular particle size range of USSNPs (from which a coloured film was produced), onto the surface of fabrics, produced a structurally coloured fabric. By controlling the mean particle diameter a wide range of spectral colours from red to blue was obtained. The light fastness properties of the coloured textiles were investigated. A further surface modification of USSNPs was performed by adding vinyl functional groups to improve the mechanical strength of the structural colour. This work suggested a novel approach to colouring textile materials without using traditional dyes and/or pigments.
Keyword(s)
Artificial opal films; Colloidal suspensions; Gravity sedimentation; Photonic crystals; Self-assembly; Silica nanoparticles; Structural coloration; Structural colour; Textiles