Video-Rate Switching of High-Reflectivity Hybrid Cavities Spanning All Primary Colors.

Xiong, Kunli; Olsson, Oliver; Rossi, Stefano; Wang, Gan; Jonsson, Magnus P; Dahlin, Andreas; Baumberg, Jeremy J · Adv Mater · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Dynamically tunable reflective structural colors are attractive for reflective displays (electronic paper). However, it is challenging to tune a thin layer of structural color across the full red-green-blue (RGB) basis set of colors at video rates and with long-term stability. In this work, this is achieved through a hybrid cavity built from metal-insulator-metal (MIM) "nanocaves" and an electrochromic polymer (PProDOTMe<sub>2</sub> ). The reflective colors are modulated by electrochemically doping/dedoping the polymer. Compared with traditional subpixel-based systems, this hybrid structure provides high reflectivity (>40%) due to its "monopixel" nature and switches at video rates. The polymer bistability helps deliver ultralow power consumption (≈2.5 mW cm<sup>-2</sup> ) for video display applications and negligible consumption (≈3 µW cm<sup>-2</sup> ) for static images, compatible with fully photovoltaic powering. In addition, the color uniformity of the hybrid material is excellent (over cm<sup>-2</sup> ) and the scalable fabrication enables large-area production.