Inkless Paper of the Future Can Be Printed (and Reprinted) With Light

[Moltuae]

Inkless Paper of the Future Can Be Printed (and Reprinted) With Light
Article Link: http://www.seeker.com/inkless-paper...nted-and-reprinted-with-light-2245922745.html

Now scientists have figured out a way to make paper that can be printed with ultraviolet light, erased by heating it and then rewritten more than 80 times.

"That means you don't have to spend a lot of money on the paper and the inks," Yadong Yin, chemistry professor at the University of California, Riverside, told Seeker. And it saves trees, too.

 

[NETWizz]

I wonder... does it take as long as light scribe?

 

[Moltuae]

I wonder... does it take as long as light scribe?

There's more info here:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b03909/suppl_file/nl6b03909_si_001.pdf

Page 6 suggests that a reaction to UV (for a sufficient change in colour) only takes around 20-30 seconds of exposure. Of course that could add up to a huge amount of time if the document has to be printed line by line (or worse, pixel by pixel). They're going to need to develop a printer that can expose most/all of the paper simultaneously.

Also, while I can think of a dozen uses for short-lived printouts, unless they can also develop a way of making the printouts more permanent, the number of practical uses will be very limited.

Still, seems like a step in the right direction.

 

[phaZed]

I'm virtually paperless. With many businesses going paperless.. even this sounds like a step back.

 

[GTP]

I wonder what happens to them if exposed to sunlight?

 

[Moltuae]

I wonder what happens to them if exposed to sunlight?

In ambient conditions it seems it becomes erased after 5-10 days, according to the pdf. I would imagine that process would be accelerated by direct sunlight. That wouldn't be an issue in the UK though of course, except for about 10 days each year when we get to see the sun. In Oz and sunnier places, you're gonna have to learn to read faster.

 

[PCS]

How easy does the printer jam if the paper edge is damaged? Unless you take extreme care not to bend or crease the paper then it'll probably end up costing more than your average A4 paper and the cost of ink.