Robust Scalable-Manufactured Smart Fabric Surfaces Based on Azobenzene-Containing Maleimide Copolymers for Rewritable Information Storage and Hydrogen Fluoride Visual Sensor

Abstract

Functionalized materials with reversible color switching are highly attractive in many application fields, especially as rewritable media for information storage. It is critical yet challenging to develop a cost-effective strategy for the fabrication of stimulus-responsive chromogenic systems. Herein, we present a versatile dip-coating approach to fabricate robust smart textile with acid/base-driven chromotropic capability. Owing to the introduction of novel maleimide-based copolymers bearing azobenzene derivative moieties, smart textiles possess rapid color switching between yellow and orange-red, which is triggered by acid–base stimulations with the resulting reversible protonation/deprotonation of maleimide moieties. As a proof of concept of the application of the smart textile for high-performance rewritable media, various rewritable elaborate patterns can be fast trifluoroacetic acid-printed/triethylamine-erased (within 20 s) with excellent cycling stability and long legible duration (>30 days). Meanwhile, the smart textile can be employed as a visual sensor for the detection of hydrogen fluoride gas leakage. It is highlighted that the as-prepared robust smart textiles with superhydrophobic surfaces have excellent antifouling properties and chemical/mechanical stabilities, which can tolerate harsh environmental conditions and repetitive mechanical deformation. The robust smart textiles with simple low-cost large-scale production may find more advanced potential applications besides information storage and sensors demonstrated.

Flexible Azo-Polyimide-Based Smart Surface with Photoregulatable Surface Micropatterns: Toward Rewritable Information Storage and Wrinkle-Free Device Fabrication

“…Zhang et al synthesized a novel photoresponsive polymer with enhanced mechanical properties and photohealing ability by introducing a long hexamethylene spacer and a long n -hexadecyl tail into the azobenzene-containing side chain . In addition, different azobenzene side-chain polymers and copolymers were also used to fabricate smart surfaces for applications in information storage, sensors, and light-responsive soft photonics along with microfluidic devices. ,,, Recently, azobenzene main-chain polymers, such as azobenzene-containing polyimide (azo-PI), with excellent comprehensive performance have been used in the fabrication of smart soft actuators. − Although the light responsiveness of the azo-PI with different chain structures has been systematically researched, ,, the azobenzene main-chain polymers utilized for the fabrication of smart surfaces with photoregulatable surface morphology or photoswitchable optical properties have rarely been reported.…”

“…Smart materials that can be reversibly transformed from one thermodynamic stable state to another thermodynamic metastable state via triggering with the corresponding external stimulus have been applied in solar thermal fuels, molecular motors, functional adhesives, biomedical applications, , etc. Today, various materials can respond to external stimuli such as pH, , temperature, humidity, , and magnetic field, , which have been widely used in the fabrication of smart functional devices. Among them, photoresponsive materials have attracted extensive attention because light is a kind of green and environmentally friendly clean energy that can be regulated remotely, rapidly, and accurately. − Compared to the photoresponsive inorganic transition-metal oxide, photoresponsive organic molecules with reversible conformational changes, such as spiropyran, , diarylethenes, , and azobenzene, − have been widely used in controllable liquid transport, information storage, sensors, anticounterfeiting, , etc.…”

Multiplexed stimuli-responsive molecules for high-security anti-counterfeiting applications

“…[22][23][24][25][26] Stimuli-responsive chromic materials have been studied as smart materials and applied widely in areas such as camouflage and anticounterfeiting displays, 27,28 rewritable paper, 29,30 security inks 31,32 and so on, with changes in color conveying useful information to the observer. 33,34 Traditional and commonly reported stimuli-responsive chromic materials are diarylethenes, [35][36][37] spiropyrans, [38][39][40] fulgides, [41][42][43] azobenzenes 44,45 and their derivatives. 46 However, the existing molecules have long been developed, and as such their properties are well known and are familiar to counterfeiters, such that they are now readily forged and ''cracked'' when applied in the field of information encryption.…”

Optical Control of Aggregation‐Induced Emission Shift by Photoisomerizable Precipitant in a Liquid Droplet Microresonator

“…[8] Typically, photoluminescence (PL) color of AIES-luminogens (AIESgens) varies by adding nonsolvent into the well-dissolved solution to induce its aggregation. We envision that switching the emission color could be easily achieved with liquid microresonators doped with AIEgens and triggering the aggregation process by a photo responsive precipitant (Scheme 1).Azobenzene, a conventional photoisomerizable molecule, has a wide range of applications in many fields such as information storage, [9] energy storage, [10,11] and surface modification. [12,13] Azobenzene exists in two stereo-configurations, stable trans-and metastable cis-configurations.…”

“…Azobenzene, a conventional photoisomerizable molecule, has a wide range of applications in many fields such as information storage, [9] energy storage, [10,11] and surface modification. [12,13] Azobenzene exists in two stereo-configurations, stable trans-and metastable cis-configurations.…”