An electrochromic molecular colorant and a plurality of uses as an erasably writeable medium. Multitudinous types of substrates, such as paper, are adaptable for receiving a coating of the colorant. Electrical fringe field or through fields are used to transform targeted pixel molecules between a first, high color state and transparent state, providing information content having resolution and viewability at least equal to hard copy document print. The scope of the invention includes both the liquid coating and the combination of coating on substrate.
A charge storage cell is made up of two electrodes spaced apart by a dielectric layer incorporating a molecular switch. A method of operating a bi-stable, molecular switch charge storage cell encompassing two electrodes spaced apart by a dielectric layer incorporating a molecular switch having an electric dipole is also disclosed. The method involves applying a voltage across said dielectric layer to induce opposing charges on said electrodes that create an electric field across said dielectric layer, wherein molecular dipoles within said dielectric layer align or change in response to said electric field, creating an opposing electric field and a change in state of said molecular switch from a first state to a second state; and applying a voltage of reverse polarity across said dielectric aver to change said state of said molecular switch from said second state to said first state.