Complementary Aluminum Nanopatch/Nanohole Arrays for Broad Palettes of Colors

we investigate aluminum nanopatch/nanohole arrays surrounded by a dielectric material on plastic substrates for large area color printing. in this specific arrangement, metallic nanopatches have a smaller size than that of the nanoholes, lying distantly above their complementary nanoholes. simulation results show that the coloring in reflection as well as in transmission can be tuned greatly by the structure period and the duty cycle. in contrast, variations of the separation distance practically do not change the hue. manufactured samples having a large range of these grating parameters demonstrate a broad palette of bright colors in reflection and transmission. the fabrication process may be scaled up for large area color printing, since it can be implemented as a cost-effective roll-to-roll process.