Electrowetting Could be a Disruptive Technology for End Users

Electrowetting

Philips Research in Eindhoven, the Netherlands have demonstrated that electrowetting is an attractive technology for the rapid manipulation of liquids on a micrometer scale and have shown that electrowetting can also be used to form the basis of a reflective display that is significantly faster than electrophoretic displays, so that video content can be displayed, something not possible with the more publicised electrophoretic displays to any practicable extent. A disadvantage is that electrowetted displays are not bistable ie they still need power even when the display image is not changing, whereas electrophoretic displays do not. However, IDTechEx believes that this is only a disadvantage when images are frozen for very long periods, notably with posters, billboards and signage or certain types of electronic label.