Full color printing of plasmonic structural colors utilizing self-assembled structures of charged nanospheres

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K14419
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Structural/Functional materials
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Aoki Kanna 神戸大学, 先端融合研究環, 助教 (90332254)
• Research Collaborator: YONEYAMA Takayuki 神戸大学, 工学研究科電気電子工学専攻 ; SHIGA Takayuki 神戸大学, 工学研究科電気電子工学専攻
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 構造色 / プラズモン共鳴 / 自己組織 / ナノ構造

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Self-assembled two-dimensional (2D) arrays of charged nanospheres with diameters of 100 to 500 nm were prepared on various substrates such as a glass and plastics, as a template for plasmonic nanostructures. Formation of an aluminum (Al) layer on the template structure resulted in complicated 2D Al nanostructure, that is a hole array topped with Al centroclinals. When a white light was illuminated on these structures, specific wavelength of light was resonantly absorbed in the metal structure, and its complementary color was expressed. The expressed structural color changed according to the change in diameter and periodicities of nanospheres.
Up to eight structural colors were simultaneously printed on a substrate via single aluminum evaporation process. The structural colors gained resistivity against scratch and bending by protecting them with a transparent hard layer.

Free Research Field

光学材料