Preparation of environment friendly gelatin–arabic gum microcapsules in Isopar M system for electrophoretic display

Abstract

A series of functional microcapsules for electrophoretic display (EPD) prepared by complex coacervation technology utilising gelatin and arabic gum as a wall material are presented. The authors have investigated the Isopar M electrophoretic fluid containing blue-white, red-white and yellow-white particles modified by the physical coating as core materials of microcapsules, respectively. The mass ratio of wall/core material is a key factor influencing the yield of microcapsules. The surface of microcapsule was characterised by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The display prototypes based on the red-white, blue-white and yellow-white microencapsulated electrophoretic fluids have been prepared. The contrast ratios of prototypes were found to be 1.62, 1.67 and 1.22, respectively.

Keywords:

• Electrophoretic display
• Microcapsule
• Complex coacervation
• Contrast ratio

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National 863 Project of China (No. 2008AA03A315).