Fig. 1: The blue-ringed octopus as biological inspiration and the conceptualization of deception and signaling systems.
From: Octopus-inspired deception and signaling systems from an exceptionally-stable acene variant
A Pictures of the H. lunulata octopus reversibly changing skin appearance when flashing its blue rings as a warning display62. B Pictures of an individual blue ring reversibly switching between hidden (left) and exposed (right) states on a contrast-enhancing brown dermal background62. C Schematics of the envisioned octopus-inspired deception and signaling systems before (left) and after (right) actuation. The proposed devices consist of a top transparent proton-conducting polymer electrode, a nonacene variant-based active layer wherein a wrinkled blue annulus surrounds a flatter brown circle, an underlying acrylic dielectric elastomer membrane, and a bottom transparent proton-conducting polymer electrode (top left and top right insets). Before actuation, the devices feature contracted microstructured active regions with bright visible appearances, strong near-infrared signatures, and large fluorescence signals (bottom left), but after actuation, the devices feature expanded nanostructured active regions with light visible appearances, weak near-infrared signatures, and small fluorescence signals (bottom right). The images in panels A and B are adapted from ref. 62 and reproduced with permission from The Company of Biologists Ltd.
