South Korean researchers create an artificial “skin” that resembles chameleon

The team, led by Ko Seng-Juan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Seoul National University, created a “skin” with a special color that changes color depending on the temperature and is controlled by microwave ovens.

“If you wear uniforms like a forest in the desert, you can be easily exposed,” he said Reuters. Actively changing colors and patterns according to the environment is the key to the design technology we have created.

Co. and his team demonstrated the technology: thermometric liquid crystal (TLC) paint and vertically stacked multi-silver nanoyer heaters: using a robot with color probe sensors. No matter what colors the sensors “saw” around, it tried to look like skin.

In the video, the robot floats on red, blue, and green floors, and immediately changes color to match the background.

“Color information obtained by sensors is transmitted to a microprocessor and then to silver nanoyer heaters. Once the heaters reach a certain temperature, the thermochromic liquid crystal layer changes color, ”Ko said.

Flexible, multi-layered artificial skin is less than 100 millimeters in total thickness – thinner than human hair. The skin can create intricate designs by adding additional layers of silver nanoparticles in simple shapes such as dots, lines or squares.

Ko Sung Juan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, September 7, 2021.

“Flexible leather can be used as a wearable device and can be used for fashion, military company uniforms, exterior decoration of cars and buildings, and display technology for the future,” Ko said. The study was published in the journal Nature relationships In August.