Biomimetic fabrication of melanin-like polydopamine nanofilm coating for structural colorization of textile

Structural colors originating from melanin in nature have attracted great attention in recent years. Structural colorization is an eco-friendly dyeing method which may be a substitute of the traditional highly polluting dyeing method. In this study, the structural color originating from biomimetic melanin-like polydopamine (PDA) nanofilm coating on flexible silk fabric and its color performance have been studied. Five different bright structural colors were obtained through the different polymerization reaction time of PDA nanofilm coating. However, the prepared structural colors nanofilm coating exist cracking and poor colorfastness due to the capillary tension during the formation of PDA film and the weak interaction with fabric substrate. P(GMA-co-PEGMA) copolymer containing reactive epoxy groups was used to improve the interface bonding strength between PDA film and substrate by forming covalent bond. The introducing covalent bond will be beneficial for the improving interface bonding strength, thus to obtain high colorfastness structural color coating. This research would provide experimental basis for the fabrication of crack-free and high colorfastness structural color coating originating from biomimetic melanin-like PDA nanofilm which would achieve the application in textile colorization.