Bio-Inspired Electro-Thermal-Hygro Responsive Rewritable Systems with Temporal/Spatial Control for Environment-Interactive Information Display

Utilization of rewritable luminescent materials for secure information storage and delivery has long been envisaged to reduce the cost and environmental wastes. However, it remains challenging to realize a temporally/spatially controlled display of the written information, which is crucial for secure information encryption. Here, inspired by bioelectricity-triggered skin pattern switching in cephalopods, an ideal rewritable system consisting of conductive graphene film and carbon dots (CDs) gel with blue-to-red fluorescence-color changes via water-triggered CDs aggregation and re-dispersion is presented. Its rewritability is guaranteed by using water ink to write on the CDs-gel and employing Joule heat of graphene film to evaporate water. Due to the highly controlled electrical stimulus, temporally/spatially controlled display is achieved, enabling on-demand delivery and duration time regulation of the written information. Furthermore, new-concept environment-interactive rewritable system is obtained by integrating sensitive acoustic/optical sensors and multichannel electronic time-delay devices. This work opens unprecedented avenues of rewritable systems and expands potential uses for information encryption/delivery.

Automated summary

This study presents an ideal rewritable system inspired by the bioelectricity-triggered skin pattern switching in cephalopods. It consists of a conductive graphene film and carbon dots gel that undergo blue-to-red fluorescence-color changes through water-triggered aggregation and re-dispersion of carbon dots. The rewritability is achieved by using water ink to write on the carbon dots gel and utilizing the Joule heat of the graphene film to evaporate water. With highly controlled electrical stimulus, temporally/spatially controlled display is achieved, enabling on-demand delivery and regulation of the written information's duration time. Furthermore, a new-concept environment-interactive rewritable system is obtained by integrating sensitive acoustic/optical sensors and multichannel electronic time-delay devices. This work opens unprecedented avenues for rewritable systems and expands potential uses for information encryption/delivery.