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posted by janrinok on Sunday February 05 2017, @10:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the solution-looking-for-a-problem dept.

Yadong Yin [...] and his colleagues at the University of California at Riverside have invented a type of paper that can be printed on using just light, erased by heating, and reused up to 80 times.

Yin created nanoparticles, which are a million times smaller than the thickness of human hair, with the dye Prussian blue, or its chemical analogues, and titanium oxide, which is commonly used in white wall paint. This mixture is then applied to normal paper.

When the coating is exposed to ultraviolet light, electrons from titanium oxide move to the dye in the nanoparticle. This addition of electrons makes the blue dye turn white. Focusing the ultraviolet light into shapes, you can print white words on a blue background—or blue words on a white background, which are easier to read.

If left alone, the paper reverts to its original state in five days. That process can be accelerated by heating the paper to 120 °C (250 °F) for 10 minutes.


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  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday February 05 2017, @10:52PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday February 05 2017, @10:52PM (#463213) Homepage

    I was thinking classified documents.

    " If left alone, the paper reverts to its original state in five days. That process can be accelerated by heating the paper to 120 °C (250 °F) for 10 minutes. "

    It seems a modern and safe method to handle the printing of classified information in closed areas, and if taken accidentally from the closed area it would fade and be invisible. Before the days of decent printers and modern test software old geezers had to do classified calculations on glass slates with grease pencils, regularly erasing them.

    Of course, it depends on how well the technology can self-mask when it fades and how determined the threats are.

  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06 2017, @12:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06 2017, @12:22AM (#463236)

    If it's good enough for classified information, it may be good enough for DRM. Imagine physical books that erase themselves like e-books!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06 2017, @12:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06 2017, @12:42AM (#463242)

    What came to my mind immediately was Circuit City's DIVX. [wikipedia.org]

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday February 06 2017, @02:09PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 06 2017, @02:09PM (#463416)

    Modern scanner based photocopiers are physically cool but I remember optical photocopiers got physically warm, hot almost when scanning, so if this product existed in 1980 then trying to photocopy a classified document would erase it...

    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday February 06 2017, @04:51PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Monday February 06 2017, @04:51PM (#463505) Homepage Journal

      Actually, running this paper through a laser printer would erase it, since laser printers and copiers work with heat. The laser puts an electrostatic "image" on the paper, which attracts the doner particles, then the paper is heated to a high enough temperature to melt the plastic toner particles on to the paper.

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org