Electrospun Photochromic Hybrid Membranes for Flexible Rewritable Media

Ink-free
rewritable media has attracted great attention as a potential
alternative to current paper prints, owing to its benefits to reducing
paper production and consumption for environmental protection. It
is desirable to develop rewritable media based on cheap, robust, and
fast-response photochromic systems. Herein, we report the design and
fabrication of flexible and photorewritable PVP/a-WO3 hybrid
membranes through electrospinning, on which images with high resolution
can be photoprinted and heat-erased for over 40 cycles. The well conjugated
organic–inorganic hybrid structure endows a fast “electron–proton
double injection” from PVP to a-WO3 in the coloration
process and greatly improves the photochromic responses. The coloration
times can be as short as tens of seconds and the erasure times can
be as long as 10 days in ambient conditions. As-formed photochromic
membranes are low-cost, environmental benign and easy for large-scale
production, indicate their great potential as flexible rewritable
media for practical usage.