As a new information storage material, photochromic compounds have the characteristics of high resolution and large storage capacity, which can be widely used in frontier fields such as optical information storage, optical conversion devices and optical switches, and have aroused widespread interest. The countries that study photochromic materials the most are the United States, Japan, France, etc., and Japan developed them in the civil industry earlier.
Photochromic materials made by adding photochromic pigments into transparent resin can be used to make sunglasses, which has been applied in China. Photochromic coatings can be made into various daily necessities, clothes, toys, decorations or coated on various signs and patterns of internal and external walls, highway signs and buildings, etc., and will present colorful patterns or patterns under illumination, beautifying people’s lives and environment; they can be made into transparent plastic films, which can be attached to or embedded in automobile glass or window panes to protect eyesight, ensure safety and play a role in regulating indoor and automobile temperatures. Another important use is for military concealed materials. In recent years, photochromic materials have also been widely concerned in high-tech fields such as optical information storage, optical regulation, optical switches, optical device materials, optical information gene materials, modified gene chip materials and so on.
Most importantly, the raw material cost of photochromic materials is cheap, which generally does not exceed the price of dyes; this material is odorless, non-toxic, does not pollute the environment, does not harm the human body, does not pollute the environment, brings people colorful color changes, regulates people’s living environment and life interest, and is beneficial to people’s health.