Meniscus-Guided Micro-Printing of Prussian Blue for Smart Electrochromic Display

Abstract

Using energy-saving electrochromic (EC) displays in smart devices for augmented reality makes cost-effective, easily producible, and efficiently operable devices for specific applications possible. Prussian blue (PB) is a metal-organic coordinated compound with unique EC properties that limit EC display applications due to the difficulty in PB micro-patterning. This work presents a novel micro-printing strategy for PB patterns using localized crystallization of FeFe(CN)(6) on a substrate confined by the acidic-ferric-ferricyanide ink meniscus, followed by thermal reduction at 120 degrees C, thereby forming PB. Uniform PB patterns can be obtained by manipulating printing parameters, such as the concentration of FeCl3 center dot K3Fe(CN)(6), printing speed, and pipette inner diameter. Using a 0.1 M KCl (pH 4) electrolyte, the printed PB pattern is consistently and reversibly converted to Prussian white (CV potential range: -0.2-0.5 V) with 200 CV cycles. The PB-based EC display with a navigation function integrated into a smart contact lens is able to display directions to a destination to a user by receiving GPS coordinates in real time. This facile method for forming PB micro-patterns could be used for advanced EC displays and various functional devices.