Abstract

Water remains the most extensively studied electrowetting fluid, but few reports exist on nonaqueous conducting solvents. Reported herein is a complete analysis of alternate fluids for electrowetting devices and displays. Emphasis is provided on real-world testing parameters, including contact angle response and immiscibility with oil, environmental range, interfacial tension, ionic content and influence on dielectric reliability, compatibility with additives such as soluble dyes or particle dispersions, and cross-diffusion of fluids or solutes. Out of 16 preselected fluids, six exhibited electrowetting performance comparable to the best aqueous:surfactant solutions. Use of the nonaqueous fluids in advanced display devices is also demonstrated.

© 2011 IEEE

Focus-tunable low-power electrowetting lenses with thin parylene films

Alexander M. Watson, Kevin Dease, Soraya Terrab, Christopher Roath, Juliet T. Gopinath, and Victor M. Bright
Appl. Opt. 54(20) 6224-6229 (2015)

Advanced characterization of electrowetting retroreflectors

Murali K Kilaru, Jia Yang, and Jason Heikenfeld
Opt. Express 17(20) 17563-17569 (2009)

Agile wide-angle beam steering with electrowetting microprisms

Neil R. Smith, Don C. Abeysinghe, Joseph W. Haus, and Jason Heikenfeld
Opt. Express 14(14) 6557-6563 (2006)

Achromatic doublet electrowetting prism array for beam steering device in foveated display

Jooho Lee and Yong Hyub Won
Opt. Express 30(2) 2078-2088 (2022)

Adaptive electrowetting lens-prism element

Soraya Terrab, Alexander M. Watson, Christopher Roath, Juliet T. Gopinath, and Victor M. Bright
Opt. Express 23(20) 25838-25845 (2015)