London startup Vollebak cooperates with the University of Manchester to develop a Thermal Camouflage Shirt, making the human body invisible to infrared cameras.

Graphene sheets make the jacket invisible when viewed with an infrared camera. Photo: Vollebak

Vollebak wants to create a cloak that is invisible not only to visible light but also in the infrared spectrum. Over the past three years, they have combined the fields of physics, optical materials, electronic control systems, fabrics and engineering, to create a wearable shirt that is also an advanced optical device. up. They said the final product will be ready on the market in the next 5 – 10 years, Yahoo reported on October 4.Yahoo reported on October 4.Yahoo reported on October 4. a>

Their prototype Thermal Camouflage Cloak consists of 42 graphene sheets, each made from more than 100 layers of pure graphene. These graphene sheets can be individually controlled and regulated the heat radiation on the jacket surface without changing its temperature. Gold and copper threads running through each graphene sheet can be used to apply different voltages. The electric potential affects the ions between the graphene sheets. The more the ion is repelled, the less heat radiation is emitted and the colder the jacket appears.

Instead of seeing heat radiation from the human body as usual, the infrared camera can only see the pattern that the research team pre-programmed. “The key detail is that each graphene sheet can be individually programmed to emit different levels of thermal radiation. This is how the jacket blends into the surrounding environment and appears invisible to infrared cameras”, Vollebak explains.

Currently, the research team is planning to reduce the size of the graphene sheet to improve the camouflage ability of the jacket. According to them, with the right number of graphene sheets and the right amount of electricity, a person can hide in the middle of a forest or a plane can blend in on the runway. As the name suggests, Thermal Camouflage Cloak can only operate in the infrared spectrum. However, in the future, Vollebak and his colleagues may be able to create a version that works in the visible spectrum.

“Graphene is a tunable material, which means that when electricity is applied, the material changes shape in both the infrared and visible spectrum. So, at least in theory, changing the charging density of graphene should change the colors we see,” the team said.

The current prototype of the Thermal Camouflage Vest is only a proof-of-concept version and is not yet commercially available. The company did not reveal how the device will be used in the future or its price.

An Khang (According to Yahoo)