Preparation of Opal Ball with Enhanced Light Diffraction Using Dry Self-Assembly Method

This article described the preparation of opal ball with enhanced structural colors by using silica microspheres droplet templates on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) superhydrophobic surfaces. The structural colors of the opal ball wasgreatly enhanced by incorporating carbon black nanoparticles (CB-NPs) into the voids of silica colloidal crystals in the dry self-assembly (DSA) process.The presence of CB-NPs in the structure did not lead to a shift of the reflection band, but enhanced the diffraction color by increased reflectance and suppressed transmission.