To reduce th paper waste, scientists have developed a low-cost, environmentally friendly way to create printed materials with rewritable paper that can considerably reduce wastage of paper.
Researchers Ting Wang, Dairong Chen and colleagues from Shandong University in China made the new material out of tungsten oxide and a common polymer used in medicines and food.
Even in the present digital age, the world still relies on paper and ink, most of which ends up in landfills or recycling centres.
The researchers created a film by mixing low-toxicity tungsten oxide with polyvinyl pyrrolidone.
To “print” on it, they exposed the material to ultraviolet light for 30 seconds or more, and it changed from white to a deep blue.
To make pictures or words, a stencil can be used so that only the exposed parts turn blue. To erase them, the material can simply sit in ambient conditions for a day or two.
To speed up the erasing, the researchers added heat to make the colour disappear in 30 minutes. The study was published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces .
(With agency input)
