Methyl red modified crystal violet lactone microcapsules for natural and composite fabrics producing a violet to orange-red effect at low temperature

Considering that crystal violet lactone has the characteristic of changing from blue to white in the field of thermochromic, in order to further develop rich color change products, the core material is modified with methyl red to make stable reversible microcapsules with the ability to change from blue-violet to orange-red at lower temperatures and successfully applied them to textiles in a simple way. A reversible color-change complex is synthesized using crystal violet lactone as a color former, bisphenol A as the developer and octadecanol as solvent, which is modified by methyl red. The microcapsules with excellent stability are prepared by an in situ coordination method using the reversible color change complex as core. When microcapsules are coated onto treated cotton and polyester fabrics, the composite fabrics show a significant color change at 30–40 °C and fatigue resistance. The above study results have potential application to the demand for color diversity in thermochromic textiles.