Facile fabrication of mechanically stable non-iridescent structural color coatings

The application of structural color materials is usually blocked by their iridescence, tendency to cracking and feeble mechanical properties. In this work, mechanically stable non-iridescent structural color coatings have been fabricated by the co-assembly of polydopamine-coated polystyrene nanoparticles (PS@PDA NPs) and chitosan (CS). The introduction of CS into the PS@PDA NPs assembly system greatly restrained the generation of cracks and enhanced the mechanical stability of the structural color coatings, which could be resisted finger wiping test and ultrasonic treatment. Importantly, these coatings applied not only onto smooth hard substrates that exhibited remarkable adhesion ability but also onto flexible cotton fabrics that presented robust mechanical stability and high color visibility. This work provides a facile strategy to fabricate mechanically stable non-iridescent structural color coatings with high color visibility for pervasive applications.