Many creatures, from cephalopods to chameleons, are able to actively change their skin coloring states as a means of camouflage. Besides the well-studied active camouflage, passive camouflage as a different survival skill is also recognized and frequently observed in insects such as wasps and flies, which can display distinct appearances against various backgrounds. A smart biomimetic system or material with both active and passive camouflage capabilities would be of interest. However, there are few such artificial optoelectronics reported. In this work, we report an artificial skin-like optoelectronic device that enables actively changing appearances and passively morphing into the environment by manipulating light–matter interactions with electrochromic polymers and photonic colloid nanocrystals. To construct the new electrochromic device, highly reflective, yet transmissive photonic nanocrystals are introduced into the gel electrolyte and sandwiched between the layers of electrochromic polymers and ion storage materials. Through voltage-controlled color switching of electrochromic polymers from colored state to bleached state, the degree of light absorbance, transmittance, and reflectance can be finely balanced and precisely modulated with the device. A broad synthesized color gamut and angle-dependent visual effects can be realized on this electronic skin-like device.

Bioinspired dynamic camouflage from colloidal nanocrystals embedded electrochromics

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ACS Fall 2022

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