Seoul:
South Korean researchers say they have created an artificial skin-like material, inspired by all-natural biology, that can immediately adjust its hues like a chameleon to match its surroundings.
The group, led by Ko Seung-hwan, a mechanical engineering professor at Seoul National University, designed the “skin” with a unique ink that adjustments colour based on temperature and is controlled by tiny, versatile heaters.
“If you wear woodland camouflage uniforms in desert, you can be easily exposed,” Ko told Reuters. “Changing colours and patterns actively in accordance with surroundings is key to the camouflage technology that we created.”
Ko and the group demonstrated the technologies – thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) ink and vertically stacked multilayer silver nanowire heaters – making use of a robot with colour-detecting sensors. Whatever colours the sensors “saw” about it, the skin attempted to mimic.
In a video, the robot crawled more than red, blue and green floors, quickly altering colour to match the background.
“The colour information detected by sensors is transferred to a microprocessor and then to silver nanowire heaters. Once the heaters reach a certain temperature, the thermochromic liquid crystal layer changes its colour,” Ko mentioned.
The total thickness of the versatile, multi-layered artificial skin is much less than a hundred micrometers – thinner than a human hair. By adding extra silver nanowire layers in easy shapes such as dots, lines or squares, the skin can build complicated patterns.
“The flexible skin can be developed as a wearable device and used for fashion, military camouflage uniforms, exterior of cars and buildings for aesthetic purposes, and for future display technology,” Ko mentioned.
The investigation was published in the journal Nature Communications in August.
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