Self-cleaning textile-based structural color coating by assembly Cu2O@PPy microspheres on white fabric and spraying polydimethylsiloxane

High refractive index metal oxides can produce structural colors through Mie scattering, which have been studied for use in eco-friendly textiles coloring. However, the inherently low structural order of Mie scattering structural colors hinders the formation of brilliant color on white substrates, limiting the application fields. In this research, Cu 2 O@PPy core-shell microspheres with varying particle sizes (382, 414, 452, 500 and 563 nm) were synthesized, which were used to construct the structural color coatings with blue, green, yellowish green, yellow and bright yellow on poly(acrylate) (PA) adhesive-pretreated white polyester fabric via spray-coating. Cu 2 O@PPy microsphere structural color coating on the fabrics obtained superhydrophobicity with the water contact angles (WCA) greater than 150° by spraying polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), thus endowing them with self-cleaning function. The PDMS treatment would not have a significant impact on the color of structural color coating on fabrics. The introduction of PA adhesive imparted excellent fastness to the structural color coating on fabrics with only minimal impact on physical properties. This research presents a novel method for fabricating functional structural color coatings on white fabrics using black polymer-coated core-shell microspheres.