Cambridge casts new spinout Phomera

Cambridge University has launched a new spinout called Phomera Technologies to commercialise an industrial process that enables colour-changing polymer opal technology.

The colour-changing properties of polymer opals work in the same way as opal gemstones, butterfly wings and beetles: the colour does not come from dyes of pigments, but from microstructures in the material itself.

In the case of the material created by Phomera Technologies, small transparent nanospheres are grown and then attached to a material. When stretched, the balls are moved further apart and the material changes towards a blue colour – when squashed, the colour shifts to red.

The spinout uses a method called bend induced oscillatory shearing to create the material on a mass scale, something that has not been possible until now.

The commercialisation of this technology is being supported by Cambridge Enterprise, the tech transfer arm of Cambridge University, which reports that it has had more than 100 companies voice their interest in the technology.

The material could be used for a variety of purposes ranging from colour-changing wallpaper to smart coatings for buildings that could reflect infrared light to keep the building cool.

Funding for the research comes from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Cambridge Nanophotonics Centre and European Research Council.

Jeremy Baumberg, senior author for a paper in “Nature Communications”, a journal which published the researchers’ fundings, said: “Finding a way to coax objects a billionth of a metre across into perfect formation over kilometre scales is a miracle.

“But spheres are only the first step, as it should be applicable to more complex architectures on tiny scales.”