High-Performance and Broad-Viewing-Angle Structural Colored Films with Carbon Black and Carbon Quantum Dot Doping

Traditional photonic crystal films are becoming increasingly popular in the fields of smart sensing and optical devices due to their high brightness level, but at the same time there is a lack of color saturation and angle dependence, which seriously affects the application of structural color in visual response and display fields. Here, the optical performance of the photonic crystal films was improved by doping a certain amount of carbon black and carbon quantum dots during the film preparation process. Doping carbon quantum dots can effectively compensate for the optical brightness loss caused by the introduction of black substances by utilizing their self-sustained photoluminescence behavior that matches the photonic bandgap. In addition, the introduction of black nanoparticles can effectively enhance surface-resonant scattering, resulting in low angle-dependent structural colors, further expanding the application of structural color in optical display fields.