Rutgers researchers develop gel that changes color with light, could be used for military camouflage

Researchers have developed a gel that can change its color with changes in light much like an octopus can in the sea, which could have military and other applications for producing camouflage.

“Electronic displays are everywhere and despite remarkable advances, such as becoming thinner, larger and brighter, they’re based on rigid materials, limiting the shapes they can take and how they interface with 3D surfaces,” Howon Lee, developer of the gel and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rutgers University said on the Rutgers website. “Research supports a new engineering approach featuring camouflage that can be added to soft materials and create flexible, colorful displays.”

Engineers developed a 3-D hydrogel that not only changes color but can change its shape. They call the substance akin to an “artificial muscle.”

The report said the substance could be used for military camouflage, robotics and flexible displays.

Inspiration for the invention came from sea creatures like the octopus and the cuttlefish, which can turn the color and shape of their skins to hide from predators by the use of thousands of color-changing cells.