Fabrication and evaluation of flexible electrowetting display with support pillars

With the development of the portable and wearable devices, flexible displays have become increasingly important and attracted extensive interest in our daily life. In this study, a flexible electrowetting display (FEWD) was proposed and fabricated. To prevent the short circuit between top and bottom electrodes, various types of support pillars were fabricated on the top substrates through photolithography technique. FEWD was measured under both the positive and negative bending conditions, with the applied voltage increasing from 0 to 24V. Aperture ratio and response time were investigated respectively to better evaluate and understand the performance of FEWD. Mechanical properties of support pillars and FEWD were evaluated by means of compressing force and cyclic bending test, respectively. The results showed that FEWD could operate properly at the voltage of 24V under bending curvature of 0.25 cm-1, achieving the largest aperture ratio of 54.96%. Moreover, the oil movement could be influenced by the support pillars in the pixel. With the advantages of both optical performance and flexibility, FEWD with support pillars, paves a novel way for future development directions of reflective transparent displays and provides promising strategy for developing flexible, wearable and visible devices.