Hydroxypropyl Cellulose-Based Meter-Long Structurally Colored Fibers for Advanced Fabrics.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Optics

Background:

• Structurally colored fibers offer eco-friendly alternatives to chemical dyes with superior optical properties.
• Scalable, cost-effective fabrication of these fibers using readily available materials remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, scalable method for producing continuous, meter-long structurally colored fibers with tunable optical properties.
• To investigate the stability and potential applications of these novel fibers.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of continuous, meter-long structurally colored fibers via extrusion of chemically crosslinked hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) aqueous solutions.
• Tuning of fiber color and polarization states through control of solution concentration, relaxation time, and collector surface energy.
• Assessment of fiber stability under mechanical strain, hydration/dehydration cycles, and thermal stress (150 °C).

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of continuous, meter-long structurally colored fibers with brilliant visible spectrum colors and helix orientation-dependent polarization.
• Demonstrated tunability of optical properties by adjusting processing parameters.
• Exhibited excellent optical stability against mechanical deformation, moisture changes, and high temperatures.
• Woven structurally colored fabrics with coded optical patterns were successfully produced.

Conclusions:

• A scalable and cost-effective method for producing structurally colored fibers from hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) has been established.
• The developed HPC-based fibers possess tunable, stable optical properties suitable for advanced applications.
• This work represents a significant advancement towards the mass production of high-performance, eco-friendly structurally colored fibers.