BENGALURU: Scientists from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), an autonomous institute under the Union Department of Science and Technology (DST) have developed an electrically switchable device that can be flipped between transparent and translucent modes, DST said on Wednesday.
The device titled Fog on-demand was developed by S Krishna Prasad and his group from CeNS in Bengaluru.
“It can be changed from transparent to scattering states by the application of an electric field and would be useful as screens for windows along with applications in household, healthcare, privacy creation, smart displays, and saving energy,” a DST statement reads.
The inventors are in dialogue with a Bengaluru-based firm to carry out field tests of the basic design of this device.
“The device involves the principle of nano-level phase separation of two specifically chosen soft materials (liquid crystal and a polymer) with tailor-made refractive index values. The situation is similar to the atmospheric fog wherein the two materials – water droplets and air – satisfy similar conditions,” DST said.
An applied electric field chooses between the two situations, of matching or mismatched indices between the polymer and liquid crystal. This electric effect results in an optical output, which at the flip of a switch, alters between scattering and transparent states of the device.
Encapsulation of this active material between glass sheets or flexible substrates leads to smart switchable windowRead More – Source
