Tunable optical and dielectric properties of metal phthalocyanine based coatings as passive camouflage materials

• Main Author: Poh, Jia Chin
• Other Authors: Hu Xiao
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/139136
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Camouflage is a very essential part in terms of military context. Camouflage is used to cover and conceal the troops or equipment from enemy detection. Previously, the concept of camouflage revolves around visual camouflage from enemy troop’s eyes. With recent advancements in the surveillance technology, radar and surveillance equipment can detect in the ultraviolet and in the near infrared wavelengths, deeming the previous camouflage techniques useless. This project aims to investigate the hypothesis that by changing the metallic species within the metallo-phthalocyanine ring, the optical and dielectric properties of the material will change, thus fulfilling the criteria of tunable passive camouflage. In this study, metallo-phthalocyanine coatings were synthesized and characterized using various techniques such as UV-Vis Near Infrared (UV-Vis NIR) spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and dielectric constant study. After the analysis of the characterization techniques, it is found that the substituting the metallic species in the phthalocyanine ring can indeed alter the optical and dielectric properties of the phthalocyanine coating.