Ryojiro Akashi

Smart Gel Light-Modulation Materials

We have developed “Smart Gel” light-modulation material and system, which imitate the manner of pigment cells of cephalopods, such as octopus or squids. This material exhibits tremendous ability to modulate the absorption of visible light. This material consists of stimuli-responsive polymer gel particles and pigments dispersed in the gels with a high concentration. The light-modulation mechanism of the system is a synergic effect between change of light absorption area and absorption efficiency of pigments according to reversible volume change of the colored gel particles. The essential factors dominating the light modulation ability are the concentration of pigment, the volume change ratio and size of gel particles. A test sample of the light modulator indicated supreme light modulation ability. Furthermore, a flexible and durable light-modulation film could be assembled using the light-modulation layer, which the gel particles dispersed in resin matrices. The novel light-modulation material and system own various advantages such as excellent light-modulation ability, high durability and color varieties. We anticipate the light-modulation material and system may find applications in display devices, light-modulator or other optical devices.