Christopher S. Moore
Large-Area Thermoregulatory Material Inspired by Cephalopods
Overview: Inspired by the space blanket and the dynamic skin of cephalopods, we have demonstrated a large-area, highly uniform, low-cost nanostructured material with tunable thermoregulatory and infrared properties, affording new scientific and technological opportunities not only for adaptive optics and thermoregulation but also thermal camouflage.Abstract: Low-cost, large-area thermal management is desirable for the operation of many modern technologies including smart clothing, electronic circuits, building environments, and outdoor equipment to control heat flow. Inspired by the space blanket and the dynamic skin of cephalopods, we have demonstrated a large-area, highly uniform, low-cost nanostructured material with tunable thermoregulatory and infrared properties. We have implemented scalable nanofabrication processes to achieve a material with an area greater than 500 square cm, modulating a 40% change in infrared transmittance and reflectance, and a dynamic environmental setpoint temperature window of approximately 8 degrees Celsius. Due to characteristics of scalability and associated figures of merit, our material affords new scientific and technological opportunities not only for adaptive optics and thermoregulation but also for any platform that would benefit from dynamic tunability of infrared radiation and thermal energy.
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