Posted March 16, 2017

 

By Seshadri Ramkumar

 

LUBBOCK, Texas – Peacock feathers have inspired scientists to develop a textile coloration process.

 

Peacock, which is the national bird of India, has inspired designers for many generations. Recently, a team of researchers from Dalian University of Technology, China, has borrowed inspiration from the patterned structure of peacock feathers to derive structural colors in textiles, to make the coloration process more environmentally friendly.

 

Deviating from the concept of chemical colors, the scientists have developed 3-D colloidal crystals and have transfer printed on to voile fabrics to create structural colors.

 

The coloration formulation consists of polystyrene nanoparticles, polyacrylate, carbon black and water. The nano polystyrene is responsible for the 3-D colloidal crystal formation, which modulates the light to develop the structural color patterns. Polyacrylate is needed for mechanical stability of the colloidal structures on the fabric.

 

According to the researchers, colloidal crystals are promising alternates to organic dyes and pigments. Transfer printing of colloidal particles resulted in good wash resistant multicolored patterns similar to those in peacock feathers. The work has appeared in a recent issue of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

 

Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar, Ph.D, FTA (honorary), is a professor at the Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech.

Peacock feathers inspire coloration process