Inkjet-Printable Amphiphilic Polydiacetylene Precursor for Hydrochromic Imaging on Paper

Hydrochromic materials find great utility in a wide range of applications including humidity sensing and measuring the water contents of organic solvents, as well as substrates for rewritable paper and human sweat pore mapping. Herein, an inkjet printable diacetylene (DA) is described that can be transformed by UV irradiation to a hydrochromic-conjugated polymer on conventional paper. Specifically, an amphiphilic DA that contains an imidazolium ion head-group is found to be compatible with a common office inkjet printer. Various computer-designed images are printed on paper using this substance. UV irradiation of the printed images results in the generation of blue-colored images associated with formation of a polydiacetylene (PDA). The resolutions of the images are almost identical to those generated using a conventional black ink. Importantly, the printed images undergo a blue-to-red color change upon exposure to water and the hydrochromism is found to be temperature dependent. The facile color change that occurs near body temperatures enables use of the hydrochromic PDA-coated paper for rapid and precise mapping of human sweat pores from fingers, palms, and feet.