Scientists use electro-charged nanoparticles to create liquid mirrors
Being able to apply new properties to glass, such as liquid mirrors, could help companies reduce their air conditioning bill and help homeowners improve their privacy.
Key takeaways
- Researchers from Imperial College London in the UK have developed a new material that can turn a transparent surface into a reflective one when an electric current is applied.
- In their experiment the team used gold nanoparticles, which are thousands of times smaller than the width of a single human hair, and placed them between two liquids which do not mix.
- When voltage is applied, the nanoparticles, which are similar to the ones used to fight cancer and help restore people's vision, self-assemble into a new configuration closely together, making the surface reflective.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2018) 'Scientists use electro-charged nanoparticles to create liquid mirrors', 311 Institute, 30 August. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/scientists-use-electro-charged-nanoparticles-to-create-liquid-mirrors/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Researchers from Imperial College London in the UK have developed a new material that can turn a transparent surface into a reflective one when an electric current is applied. We’ve all seen, at least in movies, one way mirrors used in police stations and spooky houses, but this latest development takes that idea to new levels of complexity and sophistication.
In their experiment the team used gold nanoparticles, which are thousands of times smaller than the width of a single human hair, and placed them between two liquids which do not mix. When voltage is applied, the nanoparticles, which are similar to the ones used to fight cancer and help restore people's vision, self-assemble into a new configuration closely together, making the surface reflective. Without the voltage, they are spaced apart, and the surface reverts to being transparent.
Now you see it... now you don't
“This voltage drives nanoparticles to an interface, where they congregate and form a mirror. When we switch the system to a different voltage, the particles move away from the interface and the mirror disappears,” explains Anthony Kucernak, a professor in Imperial’s Department of Chemistry.
As a result of the new development we could soon see a new range of advanced window and mirror systems that could have applications in everything from helping homeowners increase their levels of privacy all the way through to helping building operators reduce the cost of heating or cooling a building by giving them a new way to control the amount of light and heat coming into, for example, an office tower.
The Imperial College team are now considering commercialising the technology but before they do they want to increase the speed of the particles’ response, and once they manage to do that they see a wide range of alternative use cases emerging too, including using the process to create tunable optical filters for telescopes that help us better understand the universe, as well as even finding new ways to help is increase the sensitivity of chemical sensors.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
Being able to apply new properties to glass, such as liquid mirrors, could help companies reduce their air conditioning bill and help homeowners improve their privacy.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
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Sources and further reading
- Imperial College London imperial.ac.uk
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 30 August 2018. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2018). Scientists use electro-charged nanoparticles to create liquid mirrors. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/scientists-use-electro-charged-nanoparticles-to-create-liquid-mirrors/
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