Scientists at Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) have developed a new technology that changes the colour of your eyeglass lens at your will. This path-breaking development could well give people the choice to carry just one pair of eyeglasses, regardless of the weather or occasion.
Researchers at GIT claimed the colour of the lenses can be fine-tuned to change from clear eyeglasses to dark shades with a push of a button, Gizmodo reports.
Anna Osterholm in John Reynolds' group at the GIT carried out the study, which is published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. According to the study, the lenses inherited the swift colour-changing capabilities with the help of electrochromic polymers (ECPs), which respond to a small electric change.
The new lenses are more advanced than the transition lenses available in the market.
The transition lenses do not suit users' needs as they switch from clear to shaded when not necessary. For instance, the lenses will stay clear when the wearer is driving or wearing a cap, despite bright sunlight. The researchers involved in this study were able to create new hues for the lenses. Previous researches yielded only blue shades with ECPs and lenses but in this case, researchers were able to add four shades of brown to the new lens.
The end result was fascinating, as the colour of the lens changed in a matter of seconds.
"The brown hues created in this study demonstrate how fine-tuning of colouration can be achieved in a straightforward fashion through colour mixing of soluble electrochromic polymers without having to devise synthetic routes," researchers concluded. "The blends all displayed switching times between coloured and colourless states on the order of seconds, with changes in transmittance of 60–68%."
Despite the achievements, there are challenges that can get in the way, such as integrating the technology into sunglasses without making it bulky.
