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

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 degrees, 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.