This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A team of engineers has designed a new line of multicolored tattoo inks that switch on and off with different kinds of light. Described in a study published in Matter & Light, the technology could one day help people hide their tattoos when they have an important business meeting.
They could even doodle on their own skin using a simple laser pointer. "Tattooing is a very ancient technology that remains mostly untapped as a platform for today's technologies," says lead author Carson Bruns of the University of Colorado Boulder. The new inks, known as PhotoTat, are made from dyes and a Plexiglas-like material common in many medical technologies on the market today, including dermal fillers.
The research is a passion project for Bruns, who has a lot of his own tattoos, including a green lion on his arm. "I love body art because of how personal it is," he says. To make the inks, Bruns and his colleagues start with a material called polymethyl methacrylate, or PMMA, which forms incredibly small spheres that look like they're made of glass.
The team then inserts a range of color-changing dyes into the spheres. "By mixing these primary colors, we can generate a full-color image," Bruns says. Normally, these dyes are completely invisible to the human eye.
But when you shine an ultraviolet light on them, they change color in a matter of seconds—turning a vibrant blue, magenta or yellow. The colors fade over several hours, but you can also switch them off faster by exposing them to a bright LED light. "PhotoTat is like a switch.
You turn it on with UV light, but you can turn it off again when you go to grandma's house," says Bruns. You won't find PhotoTat at any tattoo parlors yet. But Bruns and his colleagues hope to continue improving their designs in the coming years, eventually making the inks available for fans of body art across the country.
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