Wearable electrochromic devices for adaptive camouflage: role of organic active materials

Abstract

Camouflage technology plays a critical role in both natural survival mechanisms and modern defense technologies, evolving from static color patterns to dynamic platforms capable of adapting to changing surroundings. The camouflage technology has found a new partner through the technology involved in electrochromism which is the phenomenon of voltage dependent reversible color switching. Electrochromic (EC) active materials enable reversible modulation of optical properties under low applied voltages range of 3 V, making them suitable for dynamic adaptive concealment technologies. Inorganic EC materials offer structural stability and durability but are often limited by restricted color range and mechanical rigidity. On the other hand, organic EC materials, particularly conjugated polymers and soluble EC materials, provide broader tunability color range in the visible region, faster switching behavior of few seconds switching time, and mechanical flexibility suitable for next-generation camouflage applications. This paper presents an overview of camouflage technologies in the visible and near-infrared regions (400–1200 nm) with a focus on wearable ECDs, highlighting the potential of organic EC active materials, their performance characteristics, existing challenges, and future prospects for practical adaptive camouflage applications especially of generic nature for future flexible and wearable technologies. © 2026 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved. This article is available under the terms of the IOP-Standard License.