Programmable Dynamic Information Storage Composite Film with Highly Sensitive Thermochromism and Gradually Adjustable Fluorescence

Adv Mater. 2024 Feb;36(8):e2305872. doi: 10.1002/adma.202305872. Epub 2023 Dec 8.

Abstract

The development of an integrated material system capable of effectively organizing and combining multisource information, such as dynamic pigmentary, structural, and fluorescent colors, is significant and challenging. Achieving such programmable dynamic information storage can considerably enhance the diversity and security of information deliveries. Here, a polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal system with highly temperature-sensitive structural color and light-sensitive pigmentary and fluorescence colors is presented. The prepared cholesteric liquid crystals (clcs) can reversibly change their structural color from red to blue within variational 3 °C near room temperature, and exhibit a gradually adjustable fluorescence which can transform from blue to pink and finally to bright red. All this dynamic information is programmable and tailored, hundreds of thousands of (>540 000) pattern combinations can easily be achieved by optical writing with a "bagua" pattern photomask. Therefore, if the corresponding code combinations to the pattern are assigned particular meanings, encrypted transmission of information with very high security can be achieved by utilizing applicable information encoding tables and decryption rules.

Keywords: adjustable fluorescence; information encryption and decryption; programmable dynamic information storage; thermochromism.