Toward Full-Color Tunable Chiroptical Electrothermochromic Devices Based on a Supramolecular Chiral Photonic Material

Traditional electrochromic devices change the color of electrochromic materials by mainly transforming the absorption band of the materials electrically, which leads to low schedulable color selection and color performance of such materials after electrochromism. Although the addition of an interference-enhanced nanocavity can improve this issue, achieving full-color controllability on a single electrochromic device is still a huge challenge. This study first demonstrates a near-full-color tunable chiroptical electrothermochromic device using a supramolecular chiral photonic material called ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC)-doped cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) (FLC-CLC). Experimental results show that the pitch of the CLC can be elongated significantly by doping a low concentration of FLC (approximate to 4 wt%) such that the photonic bandgap (PBG) redshifts from blue to the shortwave near-infrared region at near room temperature. Based on this fascinating feature, the PBG of the FLC-CLC can be tuned electrically over the entire visible region with high color performance at near room temperature in a low-voltage range (<= 3 V) via the efficient electrothermal effect of the indium-tin-oxide-coated substrate of the sample. Two potential low-voltage tunable applications based on electrothermochromic FLC-CLC materials, namely, a broadband tunable laser and a near-full-color tunable coaxial microfibric textile, are demonstrated in the study.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a near-full-color tunable chiroptical electrothermochromic device using a supramolecular chiral photonic material FLC-CLC, which can be electrically tuned over the entire visible region with high color performance at near room temperature. The study also shows two potential low-voltage tunable applications, a broadband tunable laser and a near-full-color tunable coaxial microfibric textile, based on electrothermochromic FLC-CLC materials.