A Stretchable, Light-Up Surface Inspired by Squid Skin

Squid and other cephalopods control their skin displays by contracting color-filled cells. A team of engineers attempted the same using elastomer and electrical pulses (right). Qiming Wang et al./Nature Communications

Displays are becoming flatter and flexible, so why not stretchable as well? A study published today in Nature Communications describes a paper-thin, elastic film that lights up when stimulated by an electric pulse. It’s a technology that could some day be used to make fold-up light sources, on-demand camouflage, or possibly even the Tron jumpsuit you’ve always wanted.

The engineers of the film were inspired by the skin of octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, which can change color using tiny, ring-shaped structures called chromatophores. Each chromatophore is pigment-filled and ringed with tiny muscles. By contracting or expanding the chromatophores in different patterns, the cephalopods can create dazzling displays, or camouflage themselves from sight.

The new soft, stretchable elastomer is chemically combined with artificial, fluorescent-color versions of chromatophores, called mechanophores. Electrical pulses activate the mechanophores and create flourescant patterns. Different pulse strengths change the colors, and once the pulse is shut off the pattern instantly clears.

The sample developed for the study was tiny (smaller than a square inch), the color control was unsophisticated, and it was limited to crude patterns. In other words, it’s not quite ready for watching “Monday Night Football” on a stretching widescreen. But this is just the first attempt at a stretchable film with this kind of reversible color control (previous stretchable displays had non-reversible light up patterns), and there is plenty of room for improvement.

Under different electrical pulse strengths, the elastomer contracted into tiny bumps, creating different fluorescent patterns. Qiming Wang et al./Nature Communications

Home Page Photo: Robert Young | CC BY­ND

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