Structural Color Materials and Their Research Progress in the Field of Textile Printing and dyeing

Known as physical color, structural color is produced by the interaction between the micro- /nano-structure and visible light. Because of the distinguishing chromatic mechanism of physical and chemical colors, the optical performance of structural color is significantly different from that of organic dyes and pigments. The essence of structural color is a visual effect produced by the diffraction, interference and scattering effect between the special periodic structure and visible light. At present, the main way of textile coloring is to graft or apply dyes or pigments on fibers and fabrics. To overcome the poor light fastness and environmental problems of organic dyes and pigments, people devoted to use structural colors with excellent optical properties in the field of textile printing and dyeing replacing traditional organic dyes. In this paper, the chromatic mechanism of structural color, preparation and assembly methods of structural color materials, and latest research progress of structural color materials for textile printing and dyeing were reviewed. Finally, the future research directions in this field were analyzed, and the key problems were pointed out, so as to promote the development and application of structural color materials in the textile field. © 2022, Editorial Board of Polymer Materials Science & Engineering. All right reserved.