Flexible Films and Metafabrics with Low Visible Reflection, High Near-Infrared Reflection, and Ultralow Mid-infrared Emissivity for Day–Night Thermal Camouflage

Abstract

A major challenge in thermal camouflage is maintaining consistent performance under both day–night conditions. Conventional low-emissivity materials are invariably plagued by a fundamental compromise: they are either highly reflective, causing specular glare, or excessively absorptive, leading to solar heating. To overcome this, we draw inspiration from dielectric-metal-dielectric multilayers, widely used in energy-saving glazing for their “high visible transparency and high near-infrared reflection”. We pivot this “spectral-division” concept toward a distinctly different goal: instead of transmitting visible light, we aim for moderate visible reflection to avert glare, while preserving high near-infrared reflection to suppress heating, and ultimately achieving ultralow mid-/long-wave infrared emission for thermal invisibility. Accordingly, we report a flexible titanium oxide (TiO₂)–silver (Ag)–TiO₂ (TAT) sandwich structure that achieves spectrally selective properties—suppressing visible reflection (39.2%), enhancing near-infrared reflectance (85.9%) to reduce solar absorption (0.33), and retaining ultralow infrared emissivity (3.8%). This design effectively resolves the “spectral trilemma” of day–night camouflage within a single passive architecture. Given the increasing threat of multispectral detection in modern applications, integrating additional functionalities such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding is highly desirable. The continuous Ag layer in our TAT structure not only ensures ultralow IR emissivity but also provides excellent electrical conductivity, endowing the material with efficient EMI shielding as an added advantage—with an absorption-dominated mechanism that minimizes secondary reflection. When laminated onto fabric, the TAT film achieved outstanding thermal camouflage (ΔT = 0.5 °C on a 36.5 °C platform) and high EMI shielding effectiveness of 54.7 dB. An alternative direct-sputtering approach yielded a wearable metafabric with excellent camouflage (ΔT = 0.6 °C) and substantial shielding (32.2 dB), without compromising comfort. Our study establishes a new design framework for all-weather, multifunctional stealth materials that integrate day–night thermal camouflage with absorption-dominated EMI shielding.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Day–night thermal camouflage / Spectrally selective surfaces / High NIR reflectance / Flexible meta-fabrics / Electromagnetic interference shielding

References

[1] Wang Y, Fang Z, Zheng Y, Yang Z, Tong W, Cao T. Dual attribute adversarial camouflage toward camouflaged object detection. Def Technol, 2023, 22: 166-175

[2] Bo Y, Zhang Q, Bai P, Cui H, Liu L, Wang G, Wang L, Yuan S, Zhou Z, Ma R. Flexible active pixel-matrix ultrafast thermal camouflage using square-wave temperature. Joule, 2024, 8: 2160-2169

[3] Shen Y, Li J, Lin W, Chen L, Huang F, Wang S. Camouflaged target detection based on snapshot multispectral imaging. Remote Sens, 2021, 13 Article ID: 3949

[4] Hu R, Xi W, Liu Y, Tang K, Song J, Luo X, Wu J, Qiu CW. Thermal camouflaging metamaterials. Mater Today, 2021, 45: 120-141

[5] He G, Ning F, Liu X, Meng Y, Lei Z, Ma X, Tian M, Liu X, Zhang X, Zhang X, Qu L. High-performance and long-term stability of MXene/PEDOT:PSS- decorated cotton yarn for wearable electronics applications. Adv Fiber Mater, 2023, 6: 123-135

[6] Jing J, Liu H, Wang X. Long‐term infrared stealth by sandwich‐like phase‐change composites at elevated temperatures via synergistic emissivity and thermal regulation. Adv Funct Mater, 2024, 34 Article ID: 2309269

[7] Jia Y, Liu D, Chen D, Jin Y, Chen C, Tao J, Cheng H, Zhou S, Cheng B, Wang X, Meng Z, Liu T. Transparent dynamic infrared emissivity regulators. Nat Commun, 2023, 14 Article ID: 5087

[8] Zhu H, Li Q, Zheng C, Hong Y, Xu Z, Wang H, Shen W, Kaur S, Ghosh P, Qiu M. High-temperature infrared camouflage with efficient thermal management. Light Sci Appl, 2020, 9 Article ID: 60

[9] Yuan L, Huang C, Liao J, Ji C, Huang J, Wang Y, Luo X. A dynamic thermal camouflage metadevice with microwave scattering reduction. Adv Sci, 2022, 9 Article ID: 2201054

[10] Hong S, Shin S, Chen R. An adaptive and wearable thermal camouflage device. Adv Funct Mater, 2020, 30 Article ID: 1909788

[11] Yang J, Zhang X, Zhang X, Wang L, Feng W, Li Q. Beyond the visible: bioinspired infrared adaptive materials. Adv Mater, 2021, 33 Article ID: 2004754

[12] Liu Z, Zhang G, Chen W, Wang J, Zhang B, Zhang Q. Robust biomimetic Ti3C2Tx nanocomposite films enhanced by mussel-inspired polymer for highly efficient electromagnetic shielding and thermal camouflage. Carbon, 2022, 196: 410-421

[13] Li B, Luo Z, Sun H, Quan Q, Zhou S, Yang W, Yu Z, Yang D. Spectral‐selective and adjustable patterned polydimethylsiloxane/MXene/nanoporous polytetrafluoroethylene metafabric for dynamic infrared camouflage and thermal regulation. Adv Funct Mater, 2024, 34 Article ID: 2407644

[14] Shi T, Liu D, Cheng H, Wang X, Tao J. A personal thermal camouflage material based on nanofibrous polyamide membrane. Chem Eng J, 2024, 483 Article ID: 149342

[15] Guo Q, Du C, Deng X, Cheng Y, Tai X, Nie G. High performance polythiophene derivative with good electrochromic and energy storage properties electrochemical synthesized in boron trifluoride diethyl etherate. Dyes Pigments, 2023, 220 Article ID: 111709

[16] Yu R, Wang M, Lu W, Wang J, Cao Y, Yang Y, Wang W, Wang J. Infrared ultralow‐emissivity polymeric metafabric conductors enabling remarkable electromagnetic and thermal management. Adv Funct Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: 2421347

[17] Tang X, Lu Y, Li S, Zhu M, Wang Z, Li Y, Hu Z, Zheng P, Wang Z, Liu T. Hierarchical polyimide nonwoven fabric with ultralow-reflectivity electromagnetic interference shielding and high-temperature resistant infrared stealth performance. Nano-Micro Lett, 2025, 17 Article ID: 82

[18] Wu Y, Tan S, Fang G, Zhang Y, Ji G. Manipulating CNT films with atomic precision for absorption effectiveness–enhanced electromagnetic interference shielding and adaptive infrared camouflage. Adv Funct Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: 2402193

[19] Feng W, Zou L, Lan C, Shiju E, Pu X. Core-sheath CNT@MXene fibers toward absorption-dominated electromagnetic interference shielding fabrics. Adv Fiber Mater, 2024, 6: 1657-1668

[20] Pan X, Ji J, Zhang N, Xing M. Research progress of graphene-based nanomaterials for the environmental remediation. Chin Chem Lett, 2020, 31: 1462-1473

[21] Li K, Li Z, Xiong Z, Wang Y, Yang H, Xu W, Jing L, Ding M, Zhu J, Ho JS, Chen P. Thermal camouflaging MXene robotic skin with bio‐inspired stimulus sensation and wireless communication. Adv Funct Mater, 2022, 32 Article ID: 2110534

[22] Wang T, Li M, Xu H, Wang X, Jia M, Hou X, Gao S, Liu Q, Yang Q, Tian M, Qu L, Song Z, Wu X, Wang L, Zhang X. MXene sediment-based poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate aerogel evaporator with vertically aligned channels for highly efficient solar steam generation. Nano-Micro Lett, 2024, 16 Article ID: 220

[23] He Y, Guo S, Qu L, Zhang X, Fan T, Miao J. Oriented assembly and bridging of 2D nanosheets enabled high‐performance MXene composite fiber via dual‐spatially confined spinning. Adv Funct Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: 2419923

[24] Liang L, Yang X, Li C, Yu R, Zhang B, Yang Y, Ji G. MXene‐enabled pneumatic multiscale shape morphing for adaptive, programmable and multimodal radar‐infrared compatible camouflage. Adv Mater, 2024, 36 Article ID: 2313939

[25] Shen Y, Li G, Cheng Y, Li Y, Alhadhrami A, Fallatah AM, Alshammari DA, Zhou B, Feng Y, Liu C. Lightweight double-layer structured ANF/MXene aerogel film with electromagnetic interference shielding and dynamic infrared camouflage. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater, 2024, 7 Article ID: 175

[26] Liu J, Qi S, Wang H, Fu C, Xu W, Su B, Tang W, Xia Z. Durable Fe3O4/PPy particle flow spun textile for electromagnetic interference shielding and Joule heating. Adv Fiber Mater, 2025, 7: 513-527

[27] Feng M, Feng S, Yu T, Zhu S, Cai H, He X, Liu Y, He M, Bu X, Huang J, Zhou Y. Versatile and comfortable Janus fabrics for switchable personal thermal management and electromagnetic interference shielding. Adv Fiber Mater, 2024, 6: 911-924

[28] Yan B, Bao X, Gao Y, Zhou M, Yu Y, Xu B, Cui L, Wang Q, Wang P. Antioxidative MXene@GA-decorated textile assisted by metal ion for efficient electromagnetic interference shielding, dual-driven heating, and infrared thermal camouflage. Adv Fiber Mater, 2023, 5: 2080-2098

[29] Hassan T, Iqbal A, Yoo B, Jo JY, Cakmakci N, Naqvi SM, Kim H, Jung S, Hussain N, Zafar U, Cho SY, Jeong S, Kim J, Oh JM, Park S, Jeong Y, Koo CM. Multifunctional MXene/carbon nanotube Janus film for electromagnetic shielding and infrared shielding/detection in harsh environments. Nano-Micro Lett, 2024, 16 Article ID: 216

[30] Lin Z, Wu Q, Liu X, Ma H, Liu H, Zhou L, Zhu J. Flexible meta‐tape with wide gamut, low lightness and low infrared emissivity for visible‐infrared camouflage. Adv Mater, 2024, 35 Article ID: 2410336

[31] Wang T, Gao S, Yu Y, Chen Z, Wang L, Zhang X. Hydrogel fiber evaporator with vertical channels integrated with dual heat supply/insulation model for continuous solar desalination. Nano-Micro Lett, 2026, 18: 261-280

[32] Li Y, Xiong C, Huang H, Peng X, Mei D, Li M, Liu G, Wu M, Zhao T, Huang B. 2D Ti₃C₂T_x MXenes: visible black but infrared white materials. Adv Mater, 2021, 33 Article ID: 2103054

[33] Guo B, Wang Y, Cao C, Qu Z, Song J, Li S, Gao J, Song P, Zhang G, Shi Y, Tang L. Large‐scale, mechanically robust, solvent‐resistant, and antioxidant MXene‐based composites for reliable long‐term infrared stealth. Adv Sci, 2024, 11 Article ID: 2309392

[34] Li C, Cao C, Li Z, Shao Z, Cao F, Wang G, Jin P, Luo H, Cao X. Color-thermal multispectral camouflage with VO₂-based dynamic regulator. Light Sci Appl, 2025, 14 Article ID: 313

[35] Ding Y, Mei Z, Wu X, Zhang W, Zhang Y, Xi A, Gao D, Lan F, Xu J, Diao X, Zhang R. Integrated multispectral modulator with efficient radiative cooling for innovative thermal camouflage. Adv Funct Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: 2500122

[36] Wang P, Sun Y, Zhang Y, Wang H, Zhang Y, Xiao C, Chen S, Kong G, Zhou Z, Zhang D, Qiu C, Zhou H. Programmable wire metamaterials for visible and self‐adaptive infrared camouflage. Adv Mater, 2025, 37 Article ID: 2503587

[37] Chen Q, Zhao S, Han Y, Wang Y, Mei D, Li Q, Li Y. Adaptive metaskins for active and passive thermal camouflage. Adv Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: 06934

[38] Huang Y, Zhu H, Zhou Y, Dai C, Zhu R, Ghosh P, Qiu M, Li Q. Adaptive visible-infrared camouflage with wide-range radiation control for extreme ambient temperatures. PhotoniX, 2025, 6 Article ID: 25

[39] Zhang XA, Yu S, Xu B, Li M, Peng Z, Wang Y, Deng S, Wu X, Wu Z, Ouyang M, Wang Y. Dynamic gating of infrared radiation in a textile. Science, 2019, 363: 619-623

[40] Li Y, Chen X, Yu L, Pang D, Yan H, Chen M. Janus interface engineering boosting visibly transparent radiative cooling for energy saving. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2023, 15: 4122-4133

[41] Kim J, Baek S, Park JY, Kim KH, Lee JL. Photonic multilayer structure induced high near-infrared (NIR) blockage as energy-saving window. Small, 2021, 17 Article ID: 2100654.42

[42] Pu J, Shen C, Wang J, Zhang Y, Zhang C, Kalogirou SA. Near-infrared absorbing glazing for energy-efficient windows: a critical review and performance assessments from the building requirements. Nano Energy, 2023, 110 Article ID: 108334

[43] Yin H, Zhou X, Zhou Z, Liu R, Mo X, Chen Z, Yang E, Huang Z, Li H, Wu H, Zhou J, Long Y, Hu B. Switchable Kirigami structures as window envelopes for energy-efficient buildings. Research, 2023, 6 Article ID: 0103

[44] Zeng Y, Liu Y, Jiang T, Zhao F, Wang L, Ma S, Yang G, Han S, Lai G, Tan G, Han G. A multimodal smart window with Visible-NIR-LWIR electro-modulation for all weather. Adv Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: 12029

[45] Jiang Y, Wang B, An Y, Liu T, Qin R, Zhu D, Zhang M, Chen Z, Yang Z, Li W, Li Q, Chen P, Lu Y, Zhu J, Zhu B. Hierarchical design and scalable production of radiative cooling film featuring multispectral camouflage. Nat Commun, 2026, 17 Article ID: 2253

[46] Xi W, Lee Y-J, Yu S, Chen Z, Shiomi J, Kim S-K, Hu R. Ultrahigh-efficient material informatics inverse design of thermal metamaterials for visible-infrared-compatible camouflage. Nat Commun, 2023, 14 Article ID: 4694

[47] Zhu H, Li Q, Tao C, Hong Y, Xu Z, Shen W, Kaur S, Ghosh P, Qiu M. Multispectral camouflage for infrared, visible, lasers and microwave with radiative cooling. Nat Commun, 2021, 12 Article ID: 1805

[48] Wu G, Pan J, Xia W, Xiao P, Fan H, Liu B, Lavorgna M, Liu J, Cai G. Cross‐scale regulation of coaxial twisted core‐sheath composite yarn for constructing permeable intelligent fabric with multiple protection and perception. Adv Funct Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: 2503613

[49] You J, Liu C, Li S, Jiang N, Feng X, Liu X, Liu X. Aromatic phase change microspheres constructed nanocomposite films for fluorine-free self-cleaning, absorption-dominated EMI shielding, and high-temperature thermal camouflage. Compos Part B Eng, 2024, 283 Article ID: 111650

[50] Li Y, Chen X, Liu J, Li D, Xie A, Jiang D, Li Y, Li W, Zhang Y, Yu C. PEF-MXene/LM heterostructure films with enhanced EMI shielding, gas barrier efficiency and thermal camouflage properties. Chem Eng J, 2025, 520 Article ID: 166054

[51] Zhang M, Zhou D, Zhang Y, Yu H, Wen Z, Dai X, Ba K, Di Y, Shu T, Wang J, Hao J, Han M. Tunable structural colors with 'light-lossy' MXene paints. Adv Mater, 2025, 35 Article ID: e10276

[52] Wang H, Chu CH, Wu PC, Hsiao H, Wu HJ, Chen J, Lee WH, Lai Y, Huang Y, Tseng ML, Chang S, Tsai DP. Ultrathin planar cavity metasurfaces. Small, 2018, 14 Article ID: 1703920

[53] Zhang T, Dai Y, Li Y, Tang X, Hu Y, Chen Z, Wu S, Li H, Lin Q, Cong S, Zhao Z. Colorful transmissive all-solid-state electrochromic devices empowered by optical resonant cavities. Chem Eng J, 2025, 516 Article ID: 164254

Funding

Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province(No. ZR2023YQ042)

China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No. 2023M731838)

Innovative Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 42476227)

Natural Science Foundation of Qingdao Municipality(No. 24-4-4-zrjj-197-jch)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Donghua University, Shanghai, China