Facile full-color printing with a single transparent ink
Kaixuan Li1,2, Tongyu Li3, Tailong Zhang1,4
1Key Laboratory of Green Printing, CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
Science Advances
|September 22, 2021
Summary
This study introduces an eco-friendly structural color printing method using a single transparent ink. The facile inkjet printing technique creates vibrant, tunable colors for diverse applications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Materials Science
- Nanotechnology and Microfabrication
Background:
- Structural colors offer durable, eco-friendly alternatives to traditional pigments.
- Current methods for structural color fabrication are often costly and complex.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a facile, cost-effective inkjet printing strategy for generating full-color structural colors.
- To explore the use of common polymer materials for creating tunable structural colors via microstructures.
Main Methods:
- Digital inkjet printing of dome-shaped microstructures (microdomes) using a single transparent polymer ink.
- Precise control over microdome morphology, ink volume, and substrate wettability to tune color.
- Programmable arrangement of microdomes to adjust image gamut, saturation, and lightness.
Main Results:
- Achieved continuous color regulation across the visible spectrum by controlling microdome morphology.
- Demonstrated precise adjustment of color properties (gamut, saturation, lightness) through digital printing.
- Successfully fabricated full-color structural-color images with high fidelity.
Conclusions:
- The proposed inkjet printing method provides a simple and scalable approach for producing structural colors.
- This technique utilizes common materials and offers significant potential for applications in imaging, decoration, sensing, and photonics.
