University of Manchester materials scientists have developed a flexible graphene-based device that could be used in a dynamic radiator to protect equipment exposed to extreme changes in temperature, among other applications. The team created a material from graphene that can adjust how much heat it emits in response to background temperature.
They were able to control the electrical and optical properties of the graphene using ionic liquids. The devices, each of which is made with a stack of graphene sheets, a gold electrode, and a layer of polyethylene containing the ionic liquid, are more flexible, sensitive, and able to work with a broad band of infrared wavelengths than previous attempts.