Functional Materials and Systems for Rewritable Paper

Abstract

"Paper" has greatly contributed to the development and spread of civilization. Even in today's "digitalized" world, paper continues to play a key role in socioeconomic growth, as is evidenced by the growth in global paper consumption. Unfortunately, the use of paper has its cost in terms of the exhaustion of world's natural resources. Consequently, new, cost-effective technologies that preserve natural resources are required for this purpose. Functional materials have revolutionized the way people think about developing new technologies. Especially important in this regard are "smart reactive materials," which are capable of actively responding to external stimuli such as heat, light, mechanical stress, and specific molecular orientations. Moreover, functionalized chromogenic materials, which undergo reversible color switching upon external stimulation, have attracted great attention in the context of developing rewritable paper. Here, investigations of various materials and systems that are devised for use as rewritable paper are reviewed with the hope that the coverage will stimulate and guide future studies in this area.

Hybrid Chloroantimonates(III): Thermally Induced Triple‐Mode Reversible Luminescent Switching and Laser‐Printable Rewritable Luminescent Paper

“…The invisibility of the letters on paper under visible light reminds us that the paper coated with polycrystals of 1 can be applied as rewritable PL paper. To date, research on rewritable paper was mainly focused on the mechanochromism, solvatochromism, and photochromism, and so on, while the application of PL materials in rewritable PL paper was seldom reported. Owing to the competition between kinetic and thermodynamic crystallization processes during the cooling process of the molten of 1 , heating the designated area on the paper above T m1 would melt the polycrystals, and IL@2 with red emission would be formed after natural cooling the molten to RT.…”

“…Benefiting from the low melting point of 1 , it is possible to print on the paper coated with 1 by laser without any destruction for the paper. Comparing to the rewritable PL paper based on chemical species or light induced PL switching, such a laser printable method is ink and mask‐free …”

Hybrid Chloroantimonates(III): Thermally Induced Triple‐Mode Reversible Luminescent Switching and Laser‐Printable Rewritable Luminescent Paper

“…Thei nvisibility of the letters on paper under visible light reminds us that the paper coated with polycrystals of 1 can be applied as rewritable PL paper.T od ate,r esearch on rewritable paper was mainly focused on the mechanochromism, [16] solvatochromism, [17] and photochromism, [18] and so on, [19] while the application of PL materials in rewritable PL paper was seldom reported. Owing to the competition between kinetic and thermodynamic crystallization processes during the cooling process of the molten of 1,h eating the designated area on the paper above T m1 would melt the polycrystals,a nd IL@2 with red emission would be formed after natural cooling the molten to RT.T he written contents can hardly be photocopied, which provides the opportunity for high-level anti-counterfeiting technology.T .A ida et al firstly reported the Cu I pyrazolate complexes with thermally tunable dichroic emission and their application in thermally rewritable phosphorescent paper as next-generation security technology.…”

“…Owing to the competition between kinetic and thermodynamic crystallization processes during the cooling process of the molten of 1,h eating the designated area on the paper above T m1 would melt the polycrystals,a nd IL@2 with red emission would be formed after natural cooling the molten to RT.T he written contents can hardly be photocopied, which provides the opportunity for high-level anti-counterfeiting technology.T .A ida et al firstly reported the Cu I pyrazolate complexes with thermally tunable dichroic emission and their application in thermally rewritable phosphorescent paper as next-generation security technology. [20] Benefiting from the low melting point of 1,itis possible to print on the paper coated with 1 by laser without any destruction for the paper.Comparing to the rewritable PL paper based on chemical species or light induced PL switching, [19] such al aser printable method is ink and mask-free. [21] As ap roof-of-concept experiment (details are shown in the Experimental Section in the Supporting Information), apiece of filter paper with asize of 3 1.5 cm 2 was coated with polycrystals of 1 by immersing the paper in the DMF solution of 1,a nd then annealing at 80 8 8Cf or one hour at ambient condition.…”

Thermochromism from Ultrathin Colloidal Sb2Se3 Nanowires Undergoing Reversible Growth and Dissolution in an Amine–Thiol Mixture

“…The origin of these reversible temperature‐dependent color changes is usually attributed to a shift in the chemical equilibrium between molecular isomers, a phase transition between inorganic solids, or a change in the crystalline phases of liquid crystals . To date, many thermochromic materials have been reported and commercialized, such as leuco dyes, thermotropic liquid crystals, titanium and vanadium oxides, and peptide‐based polydiacetylene . Among these examples, the liquid‐based leuco dyes and liquid crystals are unique as they can easily be made to fill various shaped voids, can be deposited onto virtually any substrate, and are straightforward to scale‐up in terms of production.…”