Structural Color for Additive Manufacturing: 3D-Printed Photonic Crystals from Block Copolymers

Abstract

Thermoplastic build materials composed of dendritic block copolymers can be used to additively manufacture plastic parts exhibiting structural color. The wavelength of reflected light can be tuned across the visible spectrum by synthetically controlling the block copolymer molecular weight. The reflection properties arise from the periodic nanostructure formed through block copolymer self-assembly during polymer processing.

Questions this source addresses

• How does block copolymer self-assembly during polymer processing produce the periodic nanostructures responsible for structural color in 3D-printed parts?
• What advantages does a block copolymer self-assembly route offer over lithography for manufacturing structurally colored plastic parts at scale?
• What makes lamellar morphology from roughly equal-volume diblock copolymers analogous to the layered nanostructures found in butterfly wing scales?
• Why does increasing the molecular weight of a block copolymer shift the reflected structural color toward longer (redder) wavelengths?