Graphene oxide/reduced graphene oxide enhanced noniridescent structural colors based on silica photonic spray paints with improved mechanical robustness

Abstract

In contrast to traditional pigment colors, structural colors have developed a great potential in practical applications, thanks to their unique nonfading and color tunable properties; especially amorphous photonic structures with noniridescent structural colors have attracted considerable attention and their applications have expanded to more fields. Herein, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) enhanced noniridescent structural colors with excellent mechanical robustness were established by a time-saving approach named spray coating, which allows for rapid fabrication of angular independent structural colors by spraying different photonic spray paints (PSPs) to ensure color multiplicity that was adjusted by the silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) sizes onto the substrates. The incorporation of poly(methyl methacrylate-butyl acrylate) (PMB) improved the adhesion existing among SiO2 inter-nanoparticles and between SiO2 NPs and the substrates, taking advantages of the low glass transition temperature (Tg) of butyl acrylate derivative polymer and made PMB embedded PSPs coated patterns being imparted with good mechanical robustness and abrasive resistance. The peculiar light adsorption of GO and RGO across visible light spectrum facilitate higher color saturation. The improvement in color saturation of GO and RGO doped PSPs is expected to boost the promising applications in structurally colored paintings, inks and other color-related optical fields.