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Suspensions of magnetoresponsive Janus colloids form chains and undergo alignment under the influence of a magnetic field. When the magnetic field is aligned with a light path, light transmission through the sample increases as compared to randomly or orthogonally oriented chains. This study investigates the emissivity response of this suspension as a function of particle concentration and magnetic field strength. A variation of the Beer–Lambert model and ray-tracing simulations capture the behavior of the experimentally measured difference in intensity between magnetically activated and nonactivated Brownian suspensions. Experiments demonstrate up to 25% contrast in transmission of visible light, which may be further optimized through materials selection. Similar experiments when these Janus particle chains are suspended in carbon tetrachloride demonstrate an emissivity variation in the near-infrared of ∼10%, again possibly optimized through further materials selection.

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