Electrically responsive photonic crystals with bistable states for low-power electrophoretic color displays

Qianqian Fu; Wenyuan Yu; Guangyang Bao; Jianping Ge

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34745-0

Electrically responsive photonic crystals with bistable states for low-power electrophoretic color displays

Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 16;13(1):7007. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34745-0.

Authors

Qianqian Fu^{1

2}, Wenyuan Yu^{1

2}, Guangyang Bao^{1

2}, Jianping Ge^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China.
² Institute of Eco-Chongming, 202162, Shanghai, China.
³ School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China. jpge@chem.ecnu.edu.cn.
⁴ Institute of Eco-Chongming, 202162, Shanghai, China. jpge@chem.ecnu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Electrically responsive photonic crystals are promising materials for electrophoretic color displays with better brightness and color saturation. However, electric field must always be applied to maintain the specific colors, which brings concerns about the power consumption and signal stability and reversibility. Here, we show an electrically responsive photonic crystal with two stable states at 0 V, which are the colored state or the colorless state with ordered or disordered particle arrangement. The color state can be reversibly switched by applying a short-time electrical field, just like in the case of commercial electrophoretic ink. With optimized recipe and electric field, the photonic crystals encapsulated in the prototype display panel are proved to have potentials in high resolution, multi-color, and greyscale display, which lays down a firm basis for reflective displays with low power consumption and good visibility.

Abstract

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