Novel Method of Producing Ball Elements for Twisting Ball Displayand their Rotation Characteristics

Abstract

A twisting ball display system is a promising candidate for Electronic Paper. Dielectric balls with colored hemispheres (black and white) are used as the display elements; each hemisphere has a different surface charge. Each ball can be rotated by applying appropriate electric fields. The rotation behavior of balls is regarded as a result of electrophoretic migration of each hemisphere. We have developed a new method of producing ball elements and checked rotation behaviors of the balls. Two liquid materials with different migration characteristics were gathered in an air and dropped into another liquid, resulting a two-tone colored ball. Rotation behaviors observed at these balls were as estimated as that they depended on the mobility difference between two hemispheres.