Novel Electrochromic Polymer for Electronic Paper

Electrochromic (EC) type e-paper is attracted with colorfulness and clearness. We have been researching and developing the material for EC type e-paper. We developed novel EC Polymers for e-paper. Our EC polymers are kinds of conductive polymers (CP). CP has some characteristics. One is electrochromism, and the other is electrochemical polymerization. Electrochromism of CP has a good memory effect. And electrochemical polymerization is suitable for printable electronics, for instance, ink-jet, screen print, and so on. Our EC polymers are comprised with thiophene derivatives and pi-conjugated X unit. To our knowledge, this thiophene derivatives are novel structure for EC polymers. These EC polymers have the electrochromic characteristic which change from coloration state to clear state. And we can adjust the color which we want by changing only X unit. And we made segment matrix EC display with our EC polymers by ink-jet printing. Our EC polymers are suitable for printable electronics, flexible substrate, and roll-to-roll process. We introduce our developing technologies. key words: electronic paper, electrochromic polymer, printable electronics, conductive polymer