Codes in Code: AIE Supramolecular Adhesive Hydrogels Store Huge Amounts of Information

Abstract

With the continuous advancement of information technology, the requirements for the information storage capacity of materials are getting higher and higher. However, information code materials usually only store a single piece of information. In order to improve their storage capacity, aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) supramolecular adhesive hydrogels with different fluorescent colors are prepared, and a “Codes in Code” method is used to demonstrate the storage capacity for large amounts of information. Four kinds of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) supramolecular hydrogels with different fluorescent colors are prepared; based on the hydrogen bonds on the hydrogel surface, these hydrogels can be assembled into a hydrogel, G5, which shows multiple fluorescent colors under the irradiation of UV light. When many 1D barcode patterns or/and 2D code patterns are incorporated into G5, not only a kind of 3D information but also plenty of 1D or/and 2D information can be stored. Therefore, the information codes prepared by the “Codes in Code” method can store a large amount of information.

Information Storage Based on Stimuli‐Responsive Fluorescent 3D Code Materials

“…To promote the storage capacity of information codes, Ji and Tang groups put forward a "Codes in Code" strategy, namely integrating various information codes into one system. [86] First, three supramolecular hydrogel blocks with different fluorescence (G25 to G27) were prepared by mixing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with three different AIE dots (Figure 7a), corresponding to red, yellow, and blue fluorescence under UV irradiation. Besides, block G27 was covered with black tape to produce a black block G28 without fluorescence emission (Figure 7a).…”

“…Instead, the complete spectral overlap between the wide absorption band of the close form diarylethene and the narrow emission band of Ln 3+ caused the activation of FRET, thereby quenching the luminescence of Ln 3+ (Figure 9b, a-f) Reproduced with permission. [86] Copyright 2021, Wiley-VCH. right).…”

“…f) The fluorescence emission quenching via Cu 2+ stimuli. a-f) Reproduced with permission [86]. Copyright 2021, Wiley-VCH.…”

Paper‐Structure Inspired Multiresponsive Hydrogels with Solvent‐Induced Reversible Information Recording, Self‐Encryption, and Multidecryption

“…[8] Over the last few decades, various approaches have emerged for information encryption and decryption/protection, such as holographic anti-counterfeiting, multidimensional security codes, stimulus-response, and fluorescence recognition. [8][9][10][11] For example, Tang et al [12] designed an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) supramolecular hydrogel which exhibited adhesiveness and multiple fluorescent colors. The storage capacity of this system for large amounts of information was demonstrated based on the code methods under UV light irradiation, showing 1D, 2D, and 3D information recording capabilities.…”

Developing Novel Fabrication and Optimisation Strategies on Aggregation-Induced Emission Nanoprobe/Polyvinyl Alcohol Hydrogels for Bio-Applications

“…The first case study was developing an injectable bioadhesive gel based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) crosslinked by borax, exhibiting fluorescent properties. For the second case study, a microfluidic fluorescent device (microchip) containing complex microstructure was prepared relying on physical crosslinking of PVA [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. The current fluorescent microfluidic device can be used as a cell culture platform allowing the evaluation of the impact of surface morphology on cell properties.…”