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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology pp 1–12Cite as

Colorant, Thermochromic

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Synonyms

Colorant, halochromic; Colorant, thermochromatic; Dye, functional

Definition

Thermochromism is the property of temperature dependence of the electronic absorption spectrum of a material, resulting in a color that depends on temperature. At one time, the term thermochromism, also known as thermochromatism, was reserved for isolated compounds and their solutions. However, the advancement of the field has led to a broadening of this definition; the term thermochromism now also describes multicomponent mixtures that are able to change color in response to changes in temperature. For both isolated compounds and mixtures, reversibility of the color change generally is regarded as a necessary condition for thermochromic behavior.

Interestingly, thermal copy and receipt paper, which have been the most commercially important thermally responsive color-changing products for the past several decades, undergo an irreversible coloring reaction and therefore do not fall under this narrow...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Mary Anne White & Alex Bourque

Authors
  1. Mary Anne White
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  2. Alex Bourque
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary Anne White .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Color Science & Imaging Lab, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Renzo Shamey

Section Editor information

  1. Fiber and Polymer Science Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Harold S Freeman

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White, M.A., Bourque, A. (2020). Colorant, Thermochromic. In: Shamey, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_165-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_165-6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Colorant, Thermochromic
    Published:
    04 December 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_165-6

  2. Original

    Colorant, Thermochromic
    Published:
    10 October 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_165-5

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