Chameleon clothing lets you vanish into the background

Chameleon clothing lets you vanish into the background

chemist in the United States is reportedly working on "chameleon clothing" that at the touch of a switch would mimic the wearer's surroundings.

Greg Sotzing, associate professor of the University of Connecticut at Storrs has invented threads of so-called electrochromic polymers that change colour in response to an applied electrical field, the British weekly says.

The threads work because the electrons in their chemical bonds can absorb light across a range of visible wavelengths.

When a voltage is applied, it changes the energy levels of the electrons, causing them to absorb light in a different wavelength and thus changing the material's colour.

So far, Sotzing has been able to change fibres from orange to blue and from red to blue. His next step is to create threads that switch from red, blue and green to white.

Ultimately, says New Scientist, Sotzing hopes to weave differently coloured threads into a criss-cross pattern so that, connected by metal wires to a battery pack, each crosspoint becomes a pixel -- the tiny point of light in a TV or computer screen.

The fabric could be made into clothing whose colour be switched by a microcontroller according to the wearer's mood.

Or, by connecting the microcontroller to a camera, the pixels could display the pattern and colours of the wearer's surroundings, thus helping him to melt into the background.

The report appears in this Saturday's issue of New Scientist.

Other scientists in this field are working on electrochromic polymer films that could change the colour of a surface. The films could darken window panes automatically in response to bright light, or be used to display ads in packaging or personal messages or greeting cards.