Tunable Color Coating of E-Textiles by Atomic Layer Deposition of Multilayer TiO2/Al2O3 Films

Abstract

We successfully fabricated a conductive E-textile and color-coated E-textile by depositing multilayer Al2O3/TiO2 on a conductive E-textile through atomic layer deposition (ALD). Pt was deposited on an E-textile as a conductive layer via low-temperature ALD. The color of the coated conductive E-textile could be tuned to violet, green, or pink by simply varying the thickness of the Al2O3 and TiO2 layers. Both experimental and simulation results revealed that seven different colors can be obtained with single-layer TiO2 and multilayer Al2O3/TiO2, depending on the film thickness and their refractive indices. This method is highly effective for enhancing the fastness of structural color on conductive E-textiles. Furthermore, the mechanical properties and chemical stability of the color-coated E-textiles were investigated. The color-coated E-textiles could withstand acidic and basic solutions, with almost negligible changes in their morphology; this in turn indicates their excellent chemical stability. These switchable stable color-based conductive E-textiles can be used as a platform to directly integrate future wearable electronics in textiles.