Granted Patent
B2
US 12,502,823 · App. 18/154,257 · Granted Dec 23, 2025
Color image printing by polymer-assisted photochemical deposition
Inventors:
Chao Wang (Chandler, AZ); Shinhyuk Choi (Tempe, AZ); Yu Yao (Chandler, AZ); Jiawei Zuo (Tempe, AZ)
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Abstract
A structural color image includes a metallic layer, a nanocomposite film, and a dielectric layer between and in direct contact with the metallic layer and the nanocomposite film. The metallic layer reflects visible light. The nanocomposite film reflects visible light and includes metallic nanoparticles in a polymeric material.
Claims (23)
1 . A method of forming a structural color image, the method comprising:
positioning a substrate in a liquid composition, wherein the substrate comprises a metallic layer and a dielectric layer, and the liquid composition comprises metal ions, a reductant, and a polymeric material;
irradiating the liquid composition at a surface of the dielectric layer with ultraviolet radiation, thereby reducing the metal ions to yield metal nanoparticles; and
coupling the metal nanoparticles to the polymeric material, thereby forming a layer of a nanocomposite film on the dielectric layer to yield the structural color image.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metallic layer comprises gold, silver, platinum, or any combination thereof.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the metallic layer is in a range of 50 nm to 250 nm.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein positioning a substrate in a liquid composition occurs at room temperature.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric layer comprises silica.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric layer comprises polymethylmethacrylate, polydimethylsiloxane, or polyethylene terephthalate.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the dielectric layer is in a range of 50 nm to 250 nm.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal ions are provided by silver nitrate.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reductant comprises sodium citrate dehydrate.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric material comprises poly(allylamine).
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of the metal nanoparticles is in a range of 5 nm to 100 nm.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticles comprise gold, silver, platinum, or a combination thereof.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the liquid composition occurs for a length of time in a range of 10 seconds to 10 minutes.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the nanocomposite film is in a range of 5 nm to 50 nm.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanocomposite film comprises one or more nanocomposite layers, wherein a thickness of each layer is in a range of 5 nm to 10 nm.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein coupling the metal nanoparticles to the polymeric material comprises adsorbing the polymeric material to a surface of the metal nanoparticles.
17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing a capping layer on the structural color image.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the capping layer comprises polymethyl methacrylate.
19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein a thickness of the capping layer is in a range of 25 nm to 75 nm.
20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a spatial resolution of the structural color image is in a range of 5 μm to 10 μm.
Assignments (2)
CONFIRMATORY LICENSE
Recorded Feb 5, 2025
From: ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS
To: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Reel/Frame 070112/0358 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST
Recorded Mar 2, 2023
From: WANG, CHAO; CHOI, SHINHYUK; YAO, YU; ZUO, JIAWEI
To: ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
Reel/Frame 062851/0768 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application
63299312
· Jan 13, 2022
References Cited (70)
US 6762237B2
· Glatkowski
· 2004
[cited by examiner]
US 8586173B2
· Yializis
· 2013
[cited by examiner]
KR 20210062137A
· 2021
[cited by examiner]
Byun et al. KR20210062137 translation. 2021 (Year: 2021).
[cited by examiner]
Albaladejo, Silvia, Manuel I. Marqués, and Juan José Sáenz. “Light control of silver nanoparticle's diffusion.” Optics express 19.12 (2011): 11471-11478.
[cited by applicant]
Al-Ramadhan, Zainab A., Jehan A. Salman, and H. A. K. Humd. “Optical and morphological properties of (PVA-PVP-Ag) nanocomposites.” Int. J. Sci. Res 5 (2016): 1828-1836.
[cited by applicant]
Banisadr, Seyedali, Adebola Oyefusi, and Jian Chen. “A versatile strategy for transparent stimuli-responsive interference coloration.” ACS applied materials & interfaces 11.7 (2019): 7415-7422.
[cited by applicant]
Bardini, Luca, et al. “Electrochemical polymerization of allylamine copolymers.” Langmuir 29.11 (2013): 3791-3796.
[cited by applicant]
Barma, M. U. S. T. A. N. S. I. R., and V. Subrahmanyam. “Optical absorption in small metal particles.” Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 1.41 (1989): 7681.
[cited by applicant]
Barman, Bidyut, et al. “Formation of plasmonic silver nanoparticles using rapid thermal annealing at low temperature and study in reflectance reduction of Si surface.” Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanot…
[cited by applicant]
Barrie, James D., et al. “Control of stress in protected silver mirrors prepared by plasma beam sputtering.” Applied optics 50.9 (2011): C135-C140.
[cited by applicant]
Chen, Weiqiang, et al. “Ultra-thin ultra-smooth and low-loss silver films on a germanium wetting layer.” Optics express 18.5 (2010): 5124-5134.
[cited by applicant]
Chen, Ke, et al. “Multicolor printing using electric-field-responsive and photocurable photonic crystals.” Advanced Functional Materials 27.43 (2017): 1702825.
[cited by applicant]
Chou, Namsun, Jinmo Jeong, and Sohee Kim. “Crack-free and reliable lithographical patterning methods on PDMS substrate.” Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering 23.12 (2013): 125035.
[cited by applicant]
Coronado, Eduardo A., and George C. Schatz. “Surface plasmon broadening for arbitrary shape nanoparticles: A geometrical probability approach.” The Journal of chemical physics 119.7 (2003): 3926-3934.
[cited by applicant]
Dahmouchène, Nora, et al. “Silver nanoparticles embedded in polymer matrices-a FTIR-SE study.” physica status solidi c 5.5 (2008): 1210-1214.
[cited by applicant]
Ellenbogen, Tal, Kwanyong Seo, and Kenneth B. Crozier. “Chromatic plasmonic polarizers for active visible color filtering and polarimetry.” Nano letters 12.2 (2012): 1026-1031.
[cited by applicant]
Fang, Yinchun, et al. “Eco-friendly colorization of textile originating from polydopamine nanofilm structural color with high colorfastness.” Journal of Cleaner Production 295 (2021): 126523.
[cited by applicant]
Furukawa, Shinya, Toshiyuki Masui, and Nobuhito Imanaka. “Synthesis of new environment-friendly yellow pigments.” Journal of alloys and compounds 418.1-2 (2006): 255-258.
[cited by applicant]
Hail, Claudio U., et al. “A plasmonic painter's method of color mixing for a continuous red-green-blue palette.” ACS nano 14.2 (2020): 1783-1791.
[cited by applicant]
Keshavarz Hedayati, Mehdi, and Mady Elbahri. “Review of metasurface plasmonic structural color.” Plasmonics 12.5 (2017): 1463-1479.
[cited by applicant]
Hodgson, Norman, et al. “Laser Resonators and Beam Propagation: Fundamentals, Advanced Concepts, Applications.” vol. 108. Springer, 2005.
[cited by applicant]
Huang, Yun, et al. “Polarization-controlled bifunctional metasurface for structural color printing and beam deflection.” Optics letters 45.7 (2020): 1707-1710.
[cited by applicant]
Jang, Jaehyuck, et al. “Spectral modulation through the hybridization of Mie-scatterers and quasi-guided mode resonances: realizing full and gradients of structural color.” ACS nano 14.11 (2020): 15317-15326.
[cited by applicant]
Jeong, Eunwook, et al. “Minimizing optical loss in ultrathin Ag films based on Ge wetting layer: Insights on Ge-mediated Ag growth.” Applied Surface Science 528 (2020): 146989. 11 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Jiran, E., and C. V. Thompson. “Capillary instabilities in thin, continuous films.” Thin Solid Films 208.1 (1992): 23-28.
[cited by applicant]
Kajtár, G., et al. “Theoretical model of homogeneous metal-insulator-metal perfect multi-band absorbers for the visible spectrum.” Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 49.5 (2016): 055104. 6 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Kats, Mikhail A., et al. “Enhancement of absorption and color contrast in ultra-thin highly absorbing optical coatings.” Applied Physics Letters 103.10 (2013).
[cited by applicant]
Kats, Mikhail A., et al. “Optical absorbers based on strong interference in ultra-thin films.” Laser & Photonics Reviews 10.5 (2016): 735-749.
[cited by applicant]
Kenanakis, G., et al. “Perfect absorbers based on metal-insulator-metal structures in the visible region: a simple approach for practical applications.” Applied Physics A 123 (2017): 1-6.
[cited by applicant]
Kim, Soo-Jung, et al. “Solution-processable nanocrystal-based broadband Fabry-Perot absorber for reflective vivid color generation.” ACS applied materials & interfaces 11.7 (2019): 7280-7287.
[cited by applicant]
Kim, Do Yoon, et al. “Electroactive soft photonic devices for the synesthetic perception of color and sound.” Advanced Materials 31.2 (2019): 1804080. 6 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Kim, Minkyung, et al. “Active color control in a metasurface by polarization rotation.” Applied Sciences 8.6 (2018): 982. 8 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Lee, In-Ho, et al. “Selective photonic printing based on anisotropic Fabry-Perot resonators for dual-image holography and anti-counterfeiting.” Optics Express 27.17 (2019): 24512-24523.
[cited by applicant]
Lee, Junho, et al. “High-purity reflective color filters based on thin film cavities embedded with an ultrathin Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 absorption layer.” Nanoscale Advances 2.10 (2020): 4930-4937.
[cited by applicant]
Li, Zhongyang, Serkan Butun, and Koray Aydin. “Large-area, lithography-free super absorbers and color filters at visible frequencies using ultrathin metallic films.” Acs Photonics 2.2 (2015): 183-188.
[cited by applicant]
Li, Zhibo, Alasdair W. Clark, and Jonathan M. Cooper. “Dual color plasmonic pixels create a polarization controlled nano color palette.” Acs Nano 10.1 (2016): 492-498.
[cited by applicant]
Lim, Kevin TP, et al. “Holographic colour prints for enhanced optical security by combined phase and amplitude control.” Nature communications 10.1 (2019): 25. 8 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Liu, Xin, Zhao Huang, and Jianfeng Zang. “All-dielectric silicon nanoring metasurface for full-color printing.” Nano Letters 20.12 (2020): 8739-8744.
[cited by applicant]
Nagasaki, Yusuke, Masafumi Suzuki, and Junichi Takahara. “All-dielectric dual-color pixel with subwavelength resolution.” Nano letters 17.12 (2017): 7500-7506.
[cited by applicant]
Nam, Hyunmoon, et al. “Inkjet printing based mono-layered photonic crystal patterning for anti-counterfeiting structural colors.” Scientific reports 6.1 (2016): 30885. 9 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Niklasson, Goran A., C. G. Granqvist, and O. Hunderi. “Effective medium models for the optical properties of inhomogeneous materials.” Applied Optics 20.1 (1981): 26-30.
[cited by applicant]
Odintsova, G. V., et al. “High-resolution large-scale plasmonic laser color printing for jewelry applications.” Optics express 27.3 (2019): 3672-3681.
[cited by applicant]
Rana, Ahsan Sarwar, et al. “Engineering the absorption spectra of thin film multilayer absorbers for enhanced color purity in CMY color filters.” Optical Materials Express 10.2 (2020): 268-281.
[cited by applicant]
Rao, Yang, et al. “A precise numerical prediction of effective dielectric constant for polymer-ceramic composite based on effective-medium theory.” IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies 23.4 (2000):…
[cited by applicant]
Reshetnyak, V. Yu, et al. “Effective medium theory for anisotropic media with plasmonic core-shell nanoparticle inclusions.” The European Physical Journal Plus 133.9 (2018): 373.
[cited by applicant]
Daqiqeh Rezaei, Soroosh, et al. “Tunable, cost-effective, and scalable structural colors for sensing and consumer products.” Advanced Optical Materials 7.20 (2019): 1900735. 8 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Raj Shrestha, Vivek, et al. “Polarization-tuned dynamic color filters incorporating a dielectric-loaded aluminum nanowire array.” Scientific reports 5.1 (2015): 12450. 10 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Sun, Shang, et al. “All-dielectric full-color printing with TiO2 metasurfaces.” ACS nano 11.5 (2017): 4445-4452.
[cited by applicant]
Vodnik, Vesna, et al. “Silver/polystyrene nanocomposites: optical and thermal properties.” Polymer composites 33.5 (2012): 782-788.
[cited by applicant]
Wang, Hao, et al. “Full color generation using silver tandem nanodisks.” ACS nano 11.5 (2017): 4419-4427.
[cited by applicant]
Wang, Yasi, et al. “Fabrication of Fabry-Perot-cavity-based monolithic full-color filter arrays using a template-confined micro-reflow process.” Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering 29.2 (2019): 025008. 7 page…
[cited by applicant]
Wankhede, Y. B., et al. “Synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles embedded in polyaniline nanocomposite.” Advanced Materials Letters 4.1 (2013): 89-93.
[cited by applicant]
Wu, Yi-Kuei Ryan, et al. “Angle-insensitive structural colours based on metallic nanocavities and coloured pixels beyond the diffraction limit.” Scientific reports 3.1 (2013): 1194. 6 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Xu, Ting, et al. “Plasmonic nanoresonators for high-resolution colour filtering and spectral imaging.” Nature communications 1.1 (2010): 59. 5 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Yakovlev, Aleksandr V., et al. “Inkjet color printing by interference nanostructures.” ACS nano 10.3 (2016): 3078-3086.
[cited by applicant]
Yakovlev, Aleksandr V., et al. “Inkjet printing of TiO2/AlOOH heterostructures for the formation of interference color images with high optical visibility.” Scientific Reports 6.1 (2016): 37090. 12 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Yang, Zhengmei, et al. “Reflective color filters and monolithic color printing based on asymmetric Fabry-Perot cavities using nickel as a broadband absorber.” Advanced Optical Materials 4.8 (2016): 1196-1202.
[cited by applicant]
Yang, Zhengmei, et al. “Microscopic interference full-color printing using grayscale-patterned Fabry-Perot resonance cavities.” Advanced Optical Materials 5.10 (2017): 1700029. pp. 1-9.
[cited by applicant]
Yang, Bo, et al. “Structural colors in metasurfaces: principle, design and applications.” Materials Chemistry Frontiers 3.5 (2019): 750-761.
[cited by applicant]
Yang, Wenhong, et al. “All-dielectric metasurface for high-performance structural color.” Nature communications 11.1 (2020): 1864. 8 pages.
[cited by applicant]
Yu, You, et al. “Polymer-Assisted Metal Deposition (PAMD): A Full-Solution Strategy for Flexible, Stretchable, Compressible, and Wearable Metal Conductors.” Advanced Materials 26.31 (2014): 5508-5516.
[cited by applicant]
Zhang, Fei, et al. “Simultaneous full-color printing and holography enabled by centimeter-scale plasmonic metasurfaces.” Advanced Science 7.10 (2020): 1903156.
[cited by applicant]
Zhao, Zhi, et al. “Printing continuous metal structures via polymer-assisted photochemical deposition.” Materials Today 37 (2020): 10-17.
[cited by applicant]
Cai, W., Shalaev, V., Optical Metamaterials: Fundamentals and Applications 2010th edn, Ch. 2 (Springer, 2010).
[cited by applicant]
Kumar, K. et al. Printing colour at the optical diffraction limit. Nature Nanotech. 7, 557-561 (2012).
[cited by applicant]