A reusable wordpad that uses water as ink has been developed by scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China.
The photonic wordpad strongly diffracts blue light due to colloids that form ordered chain-like structures in the solidified polymer matrix. Writing on the wordpad with water swells the polymer matrix and increases the interparticle spacing, which causes a red-shift in the diffracted light. The photonic wordpad can be reused by drying it, and the team claim it is environmentally friendly.
Read the article for free until the 5th September: Haibo Hu, Qian-Wang Chen, Hui Wanga, Ran Li and Wei Zhong, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, DOI:10.1039/C1JM11697E (Advance Article)
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