User:SylvesterMyCat/Ionochromism

 Original article 

Ionochromic materials, similar to photochromic, thermochromic and other chromic materials, alter colour in the presence of a factor and reverse to their initial state when the factor is removed. The factor which causes colour change in ionochromic substances are ions. A flow of ions through an ionochromic material results in a reaction/colour change from the material. This material is in many ways similar to electrochromic materials which change colour when electrons flow through them. Electrons, just like anions, carry a negative charge. Both electrochromic and ionochromic substances have their colour change activated by the flow of charged particles. Ionochromic substances are suitable for detection of charged particles. Some ionochromic substances can be used as indicators for complexometric titrations.

Revisions

Ionochromism, similar to chromic methods such as photochromism, thermochromism and other chromism phenomena, is the reversible process of changing the color of a material by absorption or emission spectra of molecules using ions. Electrochromism is similar to ionochromism as it involves the use of electrons in order to change the color of materials. Both electrochromic and ionochromic materials undergo a change in color by the flow of charged particles, where electrochromic materials only involve an anionic species or negatively charged species such as electrons.

Smart textiles source:

Ionochromic textiles change color by a change either in absorption or emission spectra of the molecule on interaction with ionic species. Only one research publication about textile with ionochromic technique is reported in the literature. Lin et al. (2015) developed a kind of Fe(II)-ionTHE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 165 sensitive color-changing fabric with ionochromism. Three kinds of ionochromic dye were used to dye silk fabric, and they were evaluated for color changes triggered by Fe(II) solution. The authors observed a color change from white to red when silk fabric was triggered by Fe(II) solution, but no color change when triggered by Cu(II), Mg(II), or Ca(II) solution was observed. Nylon, polyester, and cotton fabrics were also dyed, but they showed no obvious color changes after triggering by Fe(II) solution. It was observed that ion concentration, pH value and reaction time influence the color changes. The authors pointed out that these ionochromic fabrics may find application in Fe(II) detection, magic toys, anti-counterfeiting materials, and bionic silk flowers.