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Greg Sotzing, a professor at the University of Connecticut, invented a polymer |
By MICHAEL ZITZ
In the next decade, instead of changing clothes, we'll flip tiny switches to adjust the color of our apparel to reflect our moods.
We'll be able to change rugs, drapes, sofas and even wallpaper to a more festive shade for a party with a flick of the wrist.
Our children will be able to watch DVD movies in the car--not on clunky portable players or panels but on the fabric on the back of the front seats.
We'll even be able to make the walls and ceilings of offices produce a relaxing beach-like environment.
We'll have Gregory A. Sotzing, a 1989 graduate of Spotsylvania County's Courtland High School, to thank for it.
Sotzing, an associate professor of chemistry and polymer science at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, has developed a flexible electrochromic polymer that can change colors--and that will probably soon be able to produce images--in any fabric.
A large, well-known Asian corporation is about to give Sotzing, a Mary Washington College graduate who has a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, a grant to continue research on the project.
Sotzing said he can't divulge the name of the company yet.
New Scientist and National Geographic magazines have both reported on Sotzing's breakthrough, which could also have military camouflage applications.
None of this surprises Roy Gratz, a distinguished professor of chemistry who was Sotzing's honors advisor at what is now the University of Mary Washington. Sotzing is "one of our most successful students in terms of getting recognition--one of the top ones," Gratz said.
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands recently developed a technology called Lumalive that involves weaving light-emitting diodes--essentially tiny light bulbs--into fabric to create displays.
But Sotzing's revolutionary new process involves actual changes in the thread itself.
"You either remove or add electrons to the material and it goes through a color change," he explained.
Sotzing said the process can be used on anything containing fibers, "and fiber is pretty much everywhere--carpets, wallpaper, upholstery in cars, clothing, sofas, rugs."
In the clothing application, an array of tiny switches inside, "somewhere on your being," will allow the wearer to change colors at will, he said.
Sotzing said the camouflage ramifications could be awe-inspiring.
"You'll be able to hide in front of a tree instead of behind it," he said.
He said the process can be refined to the point where it produces "pretty complex images."
He said the Asian company seems to be interested in an application that involves showing video on the actual car seat-backs as opposed to fixed, hard displays.
One industry insider said Sotzing's efforts are helping a whole new American industry blossom.
"We believe Dr. Sotzing's work will help enable faster growth of the emerging OLED [organic light-emitting diode] display industry," said John B. Dickenson, senior business development manager for Air Products in Allentown, Pa.
Air Products, which has annual revenues of over $9 billion, has used materials patented by Sotzing at the school to inexpensively extend the life of polymer OLEDs. OLEDs are used in the screens of devices such as computers and MP3 players, and the applications are broadening.
Ultimately, Sotzing said, his latest invention could be used to produce internal environments like the holodeck on "Star Trek," which allowed the crew to take mini vacations to experience mountaintops or a beaches back on Earth.
"You could generate an environment that, in a way, would be a real environment, and in a way, not so real," he said. "Real that you're physically inside of a place, but not virtual. You're in your office, but you're at the beach."
He said if the rooftop of your car has the polymers woven into the ceiling, "it's like a convertible."
How fast such applications become commercially available depends on the level of investment put into research and development, he said.
"It could be five years, 10 years," Sotzing said.
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ:
Email: mikez@freelancestar.com
| 'You either remove or add electrons to the material and it goes through a color change.' Gregory A. Sotzing Inventor |
