Scientists Develop Thermal Camouflage That Can Dupe Infrared Cameras (cosmosmagazine.com)

Writing in the journal Nano Letters, scientists from Turkey, the U.S. and U.K. describe a material that acts as thermal camouflage. Cosmos reports: Coskun Kocabas and colleagues created a film comprising multiple ultra-thin layers of graphene and a bottom layer of gold, with non-volatile ionic liquid in between them. When a small current is applied, the ions move up into the graphene layer, cutting down the infrared radiation the surface would normally emit. Because it's thin, light and flexible the film can be applied to any number of surfaces, including clothing. Tests have successfully camouflaged a hand owned by a subject wearing a covering of the material, and others have shown it to be indistinguishable from its surroundings in a variety of ambient temperatures.

Comments

*switchable* camouflage is the novelty

[DrYak]

The novelty is that this camouflage is switchable. It can be turned on and off.

Otherwise, IR camouflage has been use for quite a long time in the military. (Basically, in an over simplified manner, it boils down to very well insulating clothes). In most country, most of the "green" stuff military wear is well isolated and doesn't radiate much heat.
Even the emergency bandage comes with an extra IR-isolating (also painted green) over-laying band that can mask part of the IR radiation that the underlying wound and bloodied wound derssing could be giving of.

But all this is static (basically, well isolating cloths).

TFA's camo is switchable (between isolation and transmission).

Might have also some non-strategic application (sport clothes to adapt to external temperature ?)