UV/NIR-Light-Triggered Rapid and Reversible Color Switching for Rewritable Smart Fabrics

Remote, rapid, and ink-free printing/erasure on fabrics has great potential to revolutionize specialized clothing in numerous applications including fashion/aesthetic and security fields, but the construction of such smart fabrics has not been realized due to underlying obstacles in obtaining suitable photoreversible color-switching systems (PCSS). To address this problem, we have prepared TiO2–x nanorods as photocatalytic and photothermal component. With redox dyes as reversible color indicators and hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) as polymer matrix, TiO2–x/dye/HEC-based PCSS is coated on poly(dimethylsiloxane)-treated cotton fabric. Under 365 nm light irradiation, discoloration occurs in 180 s, resulting from the efficient photocatalytic reduction of the dye. On the contrary, when the colorless fabric is irradiated by 808 nm light, recoloration occurs in a very short time (∼100 s), far lower than the traditional heating mode (30–8 min at 90–150 °C). This rapid recoloration should be attributed to the localized high temperature (164.3–184.5 °C) induced by photothermal effect of TiO2–x. Particularly, when TiO2–x/dye/HEC-based PCSS is extended to coat commercial clothes (such as T-shirts), red/green/blue figures/letters can be rapidly and remotely printed by UV-light pen and then erased by near-infrared light, with high cycle stability. Therefore, such rewritable smart fabric represents an attractive alternative to regular clothes in meeting the increasing aesthetic or camouflage needs.