Smart Materials That Control Heat—One Pixel at a Time

At Carnegie Mellon, researchers are developing smart materials that can dynamically control heat and infrared radiation—crucial for energy-efficient buildings, space tech, and more. In collaboration with Penn State, they’ve created a pixel-by-pixel infrared system, even fabricating an IR-readable QR code. This breakthrough enables real-time thermal signature control, paving the way for innovations in thermal camouflage, sensing, and energy management—with real-world applications expected within a decade.

Transcript

00:00:09 Controlling heat and solar radiation is critical  for many technologies, such as cooling buildings,   improving energy-efficient windows, and  even managing the extreme temperature in   space. However, conventional materials,  like glass and plastics, cannot do much   to control heat in the infrared spectrum. At  CMU, we are creating advanced materials and   structures that can adjust how they handle heat  dynamically, in real time, and even in specific   locations. In our recent work, we worked with our  collaborators at Penn State University to develop   a pixel-by-pixel method for controlling thermal  signatures. We fabricated an infrared QR code   that is now distinguishable for the visible  light. These innovations allow us not only   to program thermal signatures, but also control  them dynamically at high speed. Our work at CMU   really pushes the boundary for controlling thermal  radiation, which opens up exciting opportunities,  

00:01:19 such as thermal management, energy conversion,  thermal camouflage, and infrared sensing. With   scalable manufacturing, we expect our  innovations can be transferred to real   applications in the next 5 to 10 years. We really  think infrared technologies are really promising,   so we hope to introduce more of those  kinds of technologies to the real life.