Electrophoretic material, electrophoresis display device, and electronic apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9494842-B2
Application number	US-201414573685-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2014
Priority date	Jul 13, 2012
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

In an electrophoretic material, first particles which are charged with a first polarity and second particles which are charged with a second polarity are dispersed in a solvent. A volume, which is obtained by dividing a volume of the solvent by a total number of particles, is called free volume, and a radius of a spherical space, which is occupied by sum of an average volume of the particles and the free volume, is called a free volume radius. A first particle average radius is greater than a second particle average radius. A difference between the free volume radius and the first particle average radius is greater than the second particle average radius.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrophoretic material, wherein:
particles are dispersed in a solvent, volume, which is obtained by dividing a volume of the solvent by a total number of particles, is called free volume, and a radius of a spherical space, which is occupied by sum of an average volume of the particles and the free volume, is called a free volume radius,
the particles include at least first particles which are charged with a first polarity and second particles which are charged with a second polarity, an average radius of the first particles is called a first particle average radius, and an average radius of the second particles is called a second particle average radius,
the first particle average radius is greater than the second particle average radius; and
a difference between the free volume radius and the first particle average radius is greater than the second particle average radius,
the particles include third particles,
an average radius of the third particles is called a third particle average radius,
the second particle average radius is equal to or greater than the third particle average radius, and
a difference between the free volume radius and the second particle average radius is greater than the third particle average radius.

2. The electrophoretic material according to claim 1 ,
wherein surfaces of the second particles are coated with polymer molecules which include a functional group having the second polarity.

3. The electrophoretic material according to claim 1 ,
wherein surfaces of the first particles and the second particles are coated with non-polarity polymer molecules, and
wherein a coat ratio due to the non-polarity polymer molecules on the surfaces of the first particles is greater than a coat ratio due to the non-polarity polymer molecules on the surfaces of the second particles.

4. The electrophoretic material according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first particles have white color, and the second particles have color which is different from the white color.

5. The electrophoretic material according to claim 4 ,
wherein a volume concentration of the first particles is greater than a volume concentration of the second particles.

6. The electrophoretic material according to claim 4 ,
wherein a ratio of a refractive index of the first particles to a refractive index of the solvent is greater than 1, and
wherein the first particle average radius is in a range which is equal to or greater than 0.05 μm and equal to or less than 0.4 μm.

7. The electrophoretic material according to claim 6 ,
wherein the first particle average radius is in a range which is equal to or greater than 0.1 μm and equal to or less than 0.15 μm.

8. The electrophoretic material according to claim 4 ,
wherein the first particles are resin which includes an optical interface therein.

9. The electrophoretic material according to claim 8 ,
wherein the first particles include gaps therein.

10. The electrophoretic material according to claim claim 1 ,
wherein an electric charge amount of the second particles is equal to or less than an electric charge amount of the third particles.

11. The electrophoretic material according to claim 10 ,
wherein the electric charge amount of the second particles is greater than an electric charge amount of the first particles.

12. An electrophoresis display device comprising:
the electrophoretic material according to claim 1 .

13. An electronic apparatus comprising:
the electrophoresis display device according to claim 12 .

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Yamazaki Yasushi

Classifications

• G02F1/0009

  Materials therefor · CPC title

• G02F1/172

  based on a suspension of orientable dipolar particles, e.g. suspended particles displays · CPC title

• G09G3/34

  by control of light from an independent source · CPC title

• G02B26/026

  based on the rotation of particles under the influence of an external field, e.g. gyricons, twisting ball displays (based on orientable dipolar particles G02F1/172; based on electrophoresis G02F1/167) · CPC title

• G09G3/344

  based on particles moving in a fluid or in a gas, e.g. electrophoretic devices (electrophoretic devices per se G02F1/167) · CPC title