Modified polymer with a slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid chemically bonded thereto, method of making the same, liquid lens incorporating the modified polymer as an insulating layer, and liquid lens with insulating layer having high quality factor usable under direct current

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12487380-B2
Application number	US-202217862478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2022
Priority date	Jul 21, 2021
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A liquid lens including (i) a first liquid and a second liquid disposed within a containment region, the first liquid and the second liquid forming an interface between the first liquid and the second liquid; (ii) an electrode; and (iii) an insulating layer separating the electrode from the first liquid and the second liquid, the insulating layer comprising a polymeric material and a slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid that is chemically bonded to the polymeric material, the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid providing a surface contacting one or more of the first liquid and the second liquid. The polymeric material of the insulating layer can be a poly(para-xylylene). The slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid can include units of a silicone or polyolefin, each unit individually bound to a repeating unit of the polymeric material. A liquid lens where the insulating layer has a quality factor at least 200.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A liquid lens comprising:
a first liquid and a second liquid disposed within a containment region, the first liquid and the second liquid forming an interface between the first liquid and the second liquid; an electrode; and an insulating layer separating the electrode from the first liquid and the second liquid, the insulating layer comprising a polymeric material and a slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid that is chemically bonded to the polymeric material, the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid providing a surface contacting one or more of the first liquid and the second liquid.

2 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the polymeric material of the insulating layer comprises a poly(para-xylylene).

3 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the polymeric material of the insulating layer comprises repeating units of the following formula

and n is an integer.

4 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the polymeric material of the insulating layer comprises repeating units of the following formula

and n is an integer.

5 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the polymeric material of the insulating layer comprises repeating units of the following formula

and n is an integer.

6 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid comprises silicone chains bound to repeating units of the polymeric material.

7 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid comprises polyolefin or long alkyl chains bound to repeating units of the polymeric material.

8 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the insulating layer comprises repeating units are represented by one or more of the following formulas:

v, w, x, y, and z are integers greater than 1; and
R, R1, R2, R3, and R4 comprise any one of (i) an hydrogen, (ii) an alkyl chain, (iii) a fluorinated alkyl moiety.

9 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the first liquid is an insulating or non-polar liquid; the second liquid is a conductive or polar liquid; and the first liquid in the presence of the second liquid forms a contact angle of 20° or less on the insulating layer.

10 . The liquid lens of claim 1 , wherein
the liquid lens is actuated under (i) direct current or (ii) alternating current having a frequency of less than or equal to 0.1 Hz; and the insulating layer comprises a quality factor, measured under alternating current having a frequency of 1 kHz, of at least 200.

11 . A liquid lens comprising:
a first liquid and a second liquid disposed within a containment region, the first liquid and the second liquid forming an interface between the first liquid and the second liquid; an electrode; and an insulating layer separating the electrode from the first liquid and the second liquid; wherein, the liquid lens is actuated under either (i) direct current or (ii) alternating current having a frequency of less than or equal to 0.1 Hz; wherein the insulating layer comprises a slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid; and wherein the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid comprises a surface energy, and polar part of the surface energy is less than or equal to 1 mN/m.

12 . The liquid lens of claim 11 , wherein
the insulating layer further comprises a polymeric material, the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid is chemically bonded to the polymeric material, and the polymeric material comprises the polymeric material of the insulating layer comprises a poly(para-xylylene).

13 . The liquid lens of claim 12 , wherein
the poly(para-xylylene) has repeating units of one or more of the following formulas

 and

n is an integer.

14 . The liquid lens of claim 12 , wherein
the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid providing a surface contacting one or more of the first liquid and the second liquid.

15 . The liquid lens of claim 11 , wherein
the insulating layer or the liquid lens displaying quality factor, measured under alternating current having frequency of 1 kHz, of at least 200.

16 . The liquid lens of claim 14 , wherein
the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid comprises silicone chains, polyolefin chains, or long alkyl chains bound to repeating units of the polymeric material.

17 . The liquid lens of claim 14 , wherein
the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid that is chemically bonded to the polymeric coating comprises a thickness, and the thickness is less than or equal to 25 nm.

18 . The liquid lens of claim 11 , wherein
the first liquid is an insulating or non-polar liquid; and dodecane on the surface in the presence of a 0.1 w/w potassium acetate in ethylene glycol forms a contact angle of less than or equal to 20° relative to the surface of the insulating layer.

19 . A modified polymer comprising:
a polymeric material and a slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid that is chemically bonded to the polymeric material, wherein the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid comprises a surface energy, and a polar part of the surface energy is less than or equal to 1 mN/m.

20 . The modified polymer of claim 19 , wherein
the polymeric material of the insulating layer comprises a poly(para-xylylene).

21 . The modified polymer of claim 19 , wherein
the surface energy is less than or equal to 25 mN/m.

22 . The modified polymer of claim 19 , wherein
the slippery omniphobic covalently attached liquid provides a surface; and dodecane on the surface in the presence of a 0.1 w/w potassium acetate in ethylene glycol forms a contact angle relative to the surface of less than or equal to 20°.

23 . The modified polymer of claim 19 , wherein
the modified polymer comprises repeating units represented by one or more of the following formulas:

v, w, x, y, z are integers greater than 1; and
R, R1, R2, R3, R4 comprises any one of (i) an hydrogen, (ii) an alkyl chain, (iii) a fluorinated alkyl moiety.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Burger Benjamin Jean-Baptiste Francois

Classifications

• G02B26/004 Primary

  based on a displacement or a deformation of a fluid · CPC title

• C08G2261/726

  Silylation · CPC title

• C08G2261/144

  Side-chains containing silicon · CPC title

• C08G2261/11

  Homopolymers · CPC title

• C08G61/025

  Polyxylylenes · CPC title