Studies have shown that combining temperature-sensitive dyes and distributed photoelectric sensors on a thin and flexible electrical substrate can form a system that serves as a camouflage for biological inspiration, which can automatically adapt to the surrounding colors.
The passive camouflage system that mimics cephalopods has many technical challenges. John A. ogers and his colleagues designed and built such a system inspired by the cellular mechanisms of cephalopods. The top layer is composed of a photosensitive dye, which is black at low temperatures and transparent above 47 degrees Celsius, and is covered with a white silver reflective layer and ultra-thin silicon diodes that control the color of the dye. The base layer contains a distributed multiple photodetectors that provide functions similar to the photosensitive opsin of cephalopod cells. This passive camouflage system is arranged in flexible units and can respond to various changing lighting patterns within 1-2 seconds.