Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (3): 504-510.doi: 10.1007/s40242-025-5029-5

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Structural Color Coating with Anti-fouling and Antibacterial Functions Based on Photonic Crystals Constructed by Fluorinated Polymer Microspheres with Quaternary Ammonium Salt Groups

TAO Weihan1, GE Jingjie2, FANG Yinchun1   

  1. 1. School of Textile and Garment, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu 241000, P. R. China;
    2. Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong, P. R. China
  • Received:2025-02-20 Revised:2025-03-12 Online:2025-06-01 Published:2025-05-27
  • Contact: GE Jingjie,E-mail:jingjie.ge@polyu.edu.hk;FANG Yinchun,E-mail:fangyinchun86@163.com E-mail:jingjie.ge@polyu.edu.hk;fangyinchun86@163.com
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers (Fudan University), China (No. K2024-12) and the Open Project Program of Anhui Engineering and Technology Research Center of Textile, Anhui Province College Key Laboratory of Textile Fabrics, China (No. 2021AETKL11).

Abstract: Photonic crystals (PCs) with brilliant structural color constructed by polymer microspheres have received great interest in recent years. However, the development of PCs with multi-functions is still a challenge. By integrating the advantages of the fluorinated groups with low surface energy and the positively charged quaternary ammonium salt groups with antibacterial properties, poly(2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluorobutyl acrylate/styrene/[3-(methylacrylamido)propyl] trimethylammonium chloride) (PASM) was successfully synthesized to construct the PCs coating with structural color and multi-functions on the fabrics. By adjusting the molar ratios of reactive monomers, PASM microspheres with different particle diameters were obtained, and subsequently were assembled into long-range order PCs coating with various structural colors on the fabrics. The structural color coating had excellent hydrophobicity with the static water contact angle greater than 140°, thereby endowing the fabrics with anti-fouling property. More importantly, the structural color coating showed excellent antibacterial performance including gram-negative bacteria and gram-positive bacteria with both antibacterial rates greater than 94%. Therefore, the PCs coating with structural color fabricated by PASM microspheres simultaneously exhibit anti-fouling and antibacterial functions, which are promising for designing multi-functional materials with brilliant colors in medical textile applications.

Key words: Polymer, Microsphere, Photonic crystal, Structural color, Multi-function