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.