PFI-TT: Fabrication of color-shifting coatings containing reflective microstructures

这个创新技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是设计、制造和评估涂层的性能，这些涂层在不同角度或不同照明条件下可以改变颜色，用于技术和美学用途。变色涂料有多种商业应用，如安全、防伪、装饰涂料、化妆品、包装和广告。目前的变色涂层技术依赖于非常小的纳米级结构，这种结构具有挑战性且生产成本高昂。目前的技术也无法控制反射的特定颜色和这些颜色反射的角度。使用更大微尺度结构的更可定制的变色涂层可以增强安全特征的独特性，提供自我表达的新途径，并降低成本。该项目的成功可能使微结构的设计能够创建定制的、所需的调色板，这些调色板可以通过可扩展的方法制造。提议的技术也将被纳入宾夕法尼亚州立大学的创业创新课程，作为一个基于团队的案例研究，为本科生提供为新技术发明制定商业化计划的实践经验。拟议的项目旨在利用涂层设计的目的，当光在微结构中多次反射时产生的颜色。现有的变色材料，如衍射光栅或薄膜，通过使用周期性纳米结构产生光学干涉。通过使用更大的数量级和更容易在各种几何形状中制造的微结构，有机会更好地定制反射颜色。该项目的目标包括在大面积上制造微结构阵列，生成可用于微结构聚合物印迹的镍金属模具，评估热塑性聚合物压花和微结构薄膜生产的可扩展方法，以及评估原型薄膜光学性能，作为与当前竞争对手涂层的基准。将寻求合作伙伴关系，以帮助制造业的可扩展性。客户发现将有助于评估商业潜力和目标市场应用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to design, fabricate, and evaluate the properties of coatings that change color when viewed at different angles or under different lighting conditions for technological and aesthetic use. Color-shifting coatings have commercial applications as diverse as security, anti-counterfeiting, decorative paints, cosmetics, packaging, and advertising. Current color-shifting coatings technologies rely on very small nanoscale structures, which are challenging and expensive to produce. Current technologies also provide little control over the specific colors reflected and the angles to which those colors are reflected. More customizable color-shifting coatings that use larger microscale structures may enhance the distinctiveness of security features, provide new avenues for self-expression, and reduce cost. Success of this project may enable the design of the microstructures to create customized, desired color palettes that can be fabricated by scalable methods. The proposed technology will also be incorporated into an entrepreneurial innovation course at Penn State as a team-based case study to provide undergraduates with hands-on experiences developing a commercialization plan for a new technological invention.The proposed project aims to exploit, for the purposes of coatings design, the color generation that occurs when light reflects multiple times within microstructures. Existing color-shifting materials, such as diffraction gratings or thin films, create optical interference through the use of periodic nanostructures. By using microstructures that are orders of magnitude larger and easier to fabricate in various geometries, there is an opportunity for greater customization of the reflected colors. Objectives of this project include the fabrication of microstructure arrays over large areas, generation of nickel metal molds that can be used for polymer imprinting of microstructures, evaluation of thermoplastic polymer embossing and scalable methods for microstructure film production, and evaluation of the prototype film optical properties as benchmarked against current competitor coatings. Partnerships to aid manufacturing scalability will be pursued. Customer discovery will be conducted to aid in evaluation of commercial potential and target market applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.