Stable Plasmonic Coloration of Versatile Surfaces via
Colloidal Monolayer Transfer Printing
Ning Chang, Delong Wang, Bing Liu, Da He, Hong Wu, and Xiangwei Zhao*
Preparing nanoscale patterns with bright and high resolution structural
colors for object decoration remains a challenge. Herein, the authors
propose a strategy f or fab ricating s urface-universal and large-area photonic
crystal monola yer membrane with stable pl asmonic coloration based on
polydopamine (PDA) modification, self-assembly, transfer printing, and e-
beam evaporation. In practice, the membrane is achieved with different
diameters of silica and polystyrene (PS) colloidal nanopa rticles through
layer-by-laye r (LBL) self-assembled method. The photonic crystals are
prepared on the PDA-coated substrates and experimental spectra of
different periodic plasma substrates with 20 nm-gol d-coating are o btained
and analyzed. Based on this, different plasma display patterns are prepared
and solve nt-response plasma pattern is fabricated. Compared with tradi-
tional colorat ion method, this method is low-cost, stable, and surface-
universal and can be used to procee d large-area plasmonic coloration,
which will be promis ing in the fields of plasma displ ay, optical sensor and
anti-counterfeiting.
1. Introduction
Plasmonic coloration, an emerging technique of surface
decoration, has attracted tremendous attention due to its
advantages of high resolution, good sustainability, and easy to
recycle.
[1]
The metal structures can produce different colors
depending on the polarization of the incident light. Common
methods for the fabrication of plasmonic materials, such as
photolithography and nanoimprinting techniques,
[2]
have high-
throughput and efficiency. However, due to the limitations of
fabrication area, traditional nanofabrication method cannot be
popularized and applied in the field of coloration. Researchers
have done a large amount of fruitful work to solve this problem,
such as injection molding,
[3]
roll-to-roll printing,
[4]
and film
insert molding.
[5]
Electron beam lithogra-
phy (EBL) is most widely used for the
fabrication of plasmonic structures be-
cause it can achieve higher spatial resolu-
tion and homogeneity. For instance, Qiu
et al. fabricated subwavelength plasmonic
nanostructures to generate color with
EBL.
[6]
They also used EBL to prepare
hybrid bilayer plasmonic metasurface to
efficiently manipulate visible light.
[7]
Chen
et al. prepared nanohole arrays through
EBL to produce high-resolution plasmonic
structural colors.
[8]
However, these struc-
tures fabricated via EBL have some dis-
advantages, for example, high cost and
unsuitable for scalable processes of post-
processing customization.
[9]
To solve these
problems, the researchers explored the
use of self-assembly methods to fabricate
large-area and low-cost plasma patterns.
Recently, there have been many reports
on the self-assembly method for prepara-
tion of colloidal crystal monolayer (CCM) since Denkov et al.
[10]
first reported the mechanism of 2D crystallization on the
substrate. Interfacial assembly is a facile and efficient method
based on the self-assembly at the air-liquid interface, which can
form large-area CCM without changing layer thickness.
Additionally, convective assembly based on meniscus formed
on wet substrates and transport of nanospheres are another
convenient method for the preparation of CCM.
[11]
Moreover,
monolayer binary and ternary photonic crystals assembled
by two or three kinds of nanoparticles through stepwise or
co-assembly are reported.
Though the fabrication methods of CCM have been developed
for decades and many advances have been made, the poor
stability of CCM is still a problem to be solved. CCM prepared on
water-guiding hydrophilic regions is unstable due to the poor
bonding force between CCM and the substrate.
[12]
Meanwhile,
the poor stability of CCM on different substrates prepared by
self-assembly method on different substrates limits the applica-
tion of plasmonic crystals. Hence, a low-cost, stable, surface-
universal, and large-area fabrication of plasmonic crystals is in
urgent need.
Polydopamine (PDA), inspired by the composition of
adhesive proteins in mussels, can be used as a surface adhesive
coating based on dopamine self-polymerization in Tris–HCl
buffer (pH 8.5). PDA film can be formed onto a wide range
of inorganic and organic materials, such as noble metals,
oxides, polymers, ceramics, and semiconductors due to its
good adhesion. Additionally, PDA coatings have good
Dr. N. Chang, Dr. D. L. Wang, Dr. B. Liu, D. He, Prof. X. W. Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics
School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering
Southeast University
Nanjing 210096, P. R. China
E-mail: xwzhao@seu.edu.cn
Dr. H. Wu
School of Science
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
DOI: 10.1002/adem.201900313
www.aem-journal.com
FULL PAPER
Adv. Eng. Mater. 2019, 1900313 © 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim1900313 (1 of 8)