Backflow Effect Enabling Fast Response and Low Driving Voltage of Electrophoretic E-ink Dispersion by Liquid Crystal Additives

Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 27;9(1):13981. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-50382-y.

Abstract

Electrophoretic display encountered several challenges towards high frame rate applications, such as long response time and high driving voltage. In this study, liquid crystal additive doping can simultaneously increase the response speed by 2.8 times and reduce the driving voltage to half of the initial value of electrophoretic dispersion. The backflow effect of liquid crystal, which induces an inversely electrorheological effect and facilitates the reverse micelles' dielectrophoretic separation, was suggested to be the main reason for the performance improvement. The proposed method is facile and effective which shows promising potential for fast response and low power consumption e-paper applications.