Wired takes a leap into the cephashionable world of cephalopod textiles to give a sneak peak at next season’s color-changing squid-muscle shirts:
“We have taken inspiration from nature’s designs and exploited the same methods to turn our artificial muscles into striking visual effects,” said lead author of the study Jonathan Rossiter [of the University of Bristol].
First up, Rossiter and team looked at the squid. This slimy cephalopod does its colour-change party trick by using a pigment-filled sac surrounded by a series of muscles. When those muscles contract, the sac is squashed and expands. This makes it look like the squid has changed colour.
To mimic this in the lab, the team used dielectric elastomers (DEs), which are soft, stretchy, smart materials which are connected to an electric circuit. When a voltage is applied, the material expands — just like the squid’s stretching sac. When the DE is short circuited, it returns to its original shape.
They say they can use this to create smart-fabrics that change color as needed. Or to make flexible, self-powered skin that acts like a medical monitor.