Chromic Electrospun Polymer Nanofibers: Preparation, Applications, and the Future

Physical understanding and determination of different analytes without the need for advanced and additional equipment are highly important, which can be achieved by using stimuli-induced chromic materials. Physical and chemical incorporation of responsive chromophores into different polymers results in the fabrication of chromic polymers. Chromic electrospun nanofibers are prepared using the electrospinning technique, and their stimuli-responsivity is improved due to their high surface-to-volume ratio. This Perspective focuses on recent studies and developments on stimuli-induced chromic electrospun nanofibers. Within this Perspective, these nanofibers are divided into different classes of photochromic, thermochromic, electrochromic, mechanochromic, halochromic, solvatochromic, hydrochromic, and ionochromic according to the stimuli to which they respond. In addition, the preparation methods, chromic compounds, electrospinning conditions, response mechanisms, and different applications of chromic nanofibers will be discussed. The main applications of such chromic nanofibers are food packaging sensors, health monitoring sensors, anticounterfeiting materials, ink-free rewritable media, and smart clothing. Several new strategies are also proposed for different applications in future studies. The preparation of multiresponsive nanofibers that combine different chromic properties in a single system and also multifunctional nanofibers that merge stimuli-responsive chromic properties with other smart functionalities can be considered in the future. This Perspective aims to assist researchers and scientists in the preparation and development of new multifunctional chromic electrospun nanofibers for advanced applications, including multimode anticounterfeiting materials, multiresponsive sensors for food packaging, and shape memory-assisted dual-mode encryption of important data.