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Gloucestershire Business News

Invisibility cloak could be possible

Each week we seem to bring you the latest wonder we are told graphene could make possible - and today it is the fantastical sounding invisibility cloak.

Before you start picturing some kind of Harry Potter-like wraparound that shields you from the naked eye we had best explain, and explain why we are bothering.

Gloucestershire business Versarien is at the forefront of the fast-developing sector and because of that, and its partnership with The University of Manchester's £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, we can't seem to avoid the near daily breakthroughs and stories.

As for the cloak which prompted this article, we are talking about the potential for a suit which could hide a human from an infrared camera.

A study by a team from the aforementioned Manchester University, led by graphene expert Professor Coskun Kacabas, said the carbon material makes things "thermally indistinguishable from its surroundings, in both warmer and cool environments".

For the leap to a full body invisibility suit of practical use for soldiers trying to evade their enemies, which is now doing the rounds in the news channels, we have our the Daily Mail to thank.

Graphene is apparently able to shield the warmth of people's bodies from thermal sensors and night vision technology which are used to pick out living beings from backgrounds when they are invisible to the naked eye.

Apparently, researchers were able to create a thin and flexible material using graphene which stopped tell-tale infrared radiation that would otherwise give away a person's position.

So, there you have it. Until next week.

Read more: Okay, but what will graphene ever do for us? 

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