Improvement in reflective–emissive dual-mode properties of electrochemical displays by electrode modification

Abstract

We studied the electrochromic (EC) and electrochemiluminescent (ECL) properties of a novel dual-mode display (DMD) cell that was enabled for reflective and emissive modes of representation by introducing both EC and ECL materials into an electrochemical cell. We fabricated EC, ECL, and DMD cells based on a simple-mixture solution or modified electrodes and compared their properties to clarify the advantage of a DMD system based on modified electrodes. Both the solution- and modified electrode-based DMDs showed EC properties in the reflective mode under dc bias application and ECL properties in the emissive mode under ac bias application. Although the solution-based DMD cell featured a very simple structure, some improvements related to side reaction and quenching reaction were required. The modified electrode-based DMD cell was fabricated to improve these aspects. The advantage of the DMD model based on the modified electrodes was certainly suggested by comparisons of the results with those of EC, ECL, and DMD cells based on a simple-mixture solution.