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- Title
Chameleon-inspired tunable multi-layered infrared-modulating system via stretchable liquid metal microdroplets in elastomer film.
- Authors
Zhang, Yingyue; Zhu, Hanrui; An, Shun; Xing, Wenkui; Fu, Benwei; Tao, Peng; Shang, Wen; Wu, Jianbo; Dickey, Michael D.; Song, Chengyi; Deng, Tao
- Abstract
This report presents liquid metal-based infrared-modulating materials and systems with multiple modes to regulate the infrared reflection. Inspired by the brightness adjustment in chameleon skin, shape-morphing liquid metal droplets in silicone elastomer (Ecoflex) matrix are used to resemble the dispersed "melanophores". In the system, Ecoflex acts as hormone to drive the deformation of liquid metal droplets. Both total and specular reflectance-based infrared camouflage are achieved. Typically, the total and specular reflectances show change of ~44.8% and 61.2%, respectively, which are among the highest values reported for infrared camouflage. Programmable infrared encoding/decoding is explored by adjusting the concentration of liquid metal and applying areal strains. By introducing alloys with different melting points, temperature-dependent infrared painting/writing can be achieved. Furthermore, the multi-layered structure of infrared-modulating system is designed, where the liquid metal-based infrared modulating materials are integrated with an evaporated metallic film for enhanced performance of such system. Liquid metal-based infrared-modulating materials and systems have been developed to regulate the infrared reflection with multiple modes, which can be used for infrared camouflage, programmable infrared encryption, and infrared painting/writing.
- Subjects
LIQUID metals; MICRODROPLETS; ELASTOMERS; METALLIC films; MELTING points; LIQUID films; QUANTUM cascade lasers
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2024, Vol 15, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-024-49849-y