JPH0228500Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea]

The present invention relates to a light control body using electrochromic (EC) material, and relates to a light control body that enables blurred light control. In recent years, liquid crystal display devices (LCD), electrochromic display devices (ECD), and other devices have attracted attention as devices that display images by electrochemically blocking light, and there are various ideas for using these devices as light control devices. Proposed. Among these, liquid crystal has the advantage that the liquid crystal layer is thin, but the disadvantage is that when a polarizing film is used, the light resistance is insufficient, the transmittance during transmission is low, and it is difficult to maintain a constant gap between the substrates. However, liquid crystals have disadvantages such as being sensitive to heat and ultraviolet rays, so they have not yet been put into practical use. ECD, which is a display using EC, has a slower response speed than LCD, and if it repeats coloring and decoloring, it will cause decolorization and decolorization failure, and has a lifespan of only about 10 ⁶ to ^{10 7} times, so it cannot be used as a watch. Although it has the disadvantages of not being able to display seconds, it has the advantage that it has good contrast, does not consume power and has memory properties other than coloring and fading, but it has hardly been put into practical use at present. Not yet. However, the drawbacks of these ECDs do not pose much of a problem when used as a light control body that is not a display body. In other words, for a light control body, a response speed of a fraction of a second is essentially meaningless, and a response speed of several seconds to several minutes is usually sufficient, and the lifespan due to repeated coloring and decoloring is limited to 10 times a day. Approximately 40,000 times in 10 years after decoloring and 10 ⁴
~10 It can withstand practical use after about ⁵ times, so there is no problem. Furthermore, the advantages of EC, such as good contrast and the fact that it does not require electricity for anything other than coloring and decoloring, can be utilized as is, and unlike liquid crystals, the gap between the substrates can be controlled as long as the EC and the counter electrode do not short-circuit. It is extremely easy to make and can be easily manufactured as a light control body. Based on these findings, the present inventor has already made several proposals regarding the structure of a light control body. The present invention is related to those improvements, and is aimed at a dimming body in which the light transmittance varies depending on the location and gradually changes over time, and it is a display electrode substrate provided with an EC material. In a light control body formed by laminating a counter electrode substrate on which a counter electrode and a counter electrode are formed, facing each other with an electrolyte interposed therebetween,
The transparent electrodes of the display electrode and the counter electrode are connected to low resistance electrode leads arranged along the entire length of one side, and the display electrode and the counter electrode are taken out from the same side and connected to a driving power source. It is a light control body. The light control body of the present invention is capable of blurred light control in which the coloring density, that is, the transmittance, gradually changes from the electrode extraction side to the other sides, and various light control is possible compared to the conventional uniform light control. It is. In addition, by controlling the resistivity of the light control body of the present invention, after coloring, the coloring remains blurred for a long time even when the power is disconnected, making it possible to take full advantage of the memory properties that are characteristic of EC materials. be. In addition, in EC display elements, etc., all the electrodes are sometimes taken out from one side to make it easier to take out the electrodes, but even in this case, uniform coloring is important for the appearance of the display element, so the lead wires are It is adjusted by changing the line width so that the resistance of the display segment remains the same or is inversely proportional to the area of the display segment, and is not intended to create blurring using full-surface electrodes as in the present invention. . The transparent substrate can be used as long as it is transparent and has sufficient strength, such as glass, plastic, or a laminate thereof.It can be used as long as it is possible to form transparent electrodes and an EC layer on it. A thickness of about 1 to 20 mm is usually used depending on the situation. This transparent electrode may be formed of In ₂ O ₃ , SnO ₂ , Au, etc. by a vapor deposition method, a printing method, a film adhesion method, etc., and may be thin and colored blue, brown, gray, etc., and may be partially colored. It is also possible to form a display segment that is not provided as a special display. The display electrode substrate includes a transparent electrode on a transparent substrate, and an EC layer formed on the transparent electrode. The EC layer can be a material such as WO ₃ , MoO ₃ , Ir ₂ O ₃ that absorbs reversibly in the visible light range when a voltage is applied, and usually a material that absorbs almost the entire visible light range. is used, but it causes absorption in a part of the visible light range, that is, it is colored in a specific color.
Further, it is also possible to use a material whose absorption light range changes, that is, whose color changes. _WO3 is the most common EC substance,
In the case of WO ₃ , it is preferable to use an EC layer deposited at a vacuum level of 1×10 ^-4 torr or less, which is on the higher vacuum side than EC for display elements.Although it takes longer to color, the coloring changes after the circuit is opened. That is, there is little tendency for blurring to disappear, which is preferable as a light control body. Furthermore, it is also possible to further improve the blurring by changing the thickness of the EC material, or to create a partial pattern. In addition, the counter electrode substrate has a transparent electrode on a transparent substrate,
It is possible to use a counter electrode formed by laminating an EC material that does not color in the visible light range under both positive and negative voltages on an electrode such as a linear electrode, if necessary. However, in the present invention, it is preferable for the counter electrode to be made of only a transparent electrode because it can effectively blur the image. Further, a metal linear object may be provided on the upper surface or lower surface of the transparent electrode for both the display electrode and the counter electrode. In the present invention, by providing the electrode extraction portion of the display electrode substrate and the electrode extraction portion of the counter electrode substrate on the same side, the electrode extraction portion side is highly colored.
It can be less pigmented on the other side. It is preferable that a low-resistance electrode lead is provided on this electrode lead-out side, so that the electrode lead-out side can be colored to the same degree over the entire length. Various known sealing materials can be used, but
Epoxy resins, fluororesins, silicone resins, and other materials that are not degraded by electrolytes and do not have an adverse effect on electrolytes can be used.
Compared to ECDs and the like, the seal width can be much wider, so the material selection criteria are relatively less strict. The electrolyte may be any electrolyte as long as it can color or erase the color of the EC layer, and usually an organic solvent to which various additives are added is used. Specifically, a proton-supplying organic solvent such as an alcohol having 3 or more carbon atoms, an amide solvent, or propylene carbonate, to which an electrolyte such as an acid, alkali, or salt can be added, can be used in the light control body of the present invention. can also be used with electrolytes such as propylene carbonate and lithium perchlorate, which are commonly used in ECD. Further, various other additives can be added to these to improve their properties, such as chelating agents, iodine compounds, chloroacetic acid, etc. In addition, polymeric monomers with polar groups such as polyacrylic acid, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetal, and polyvinyl acetate that give adhesiveness and stickiness to these electrolytes can be added instead of the organic solvent. When physical properties are used, there is an advantage in that the electrolyte is less likely to leak, making sealing easier. Additionally, redoxes, such as benzoquinone,
Small amounts of azobenzene, ferrocene, titanocene dichloride, FeCl ₃ and CuCl may be added to the electrolyte. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a basic example of the light control body of the present invention, in which the display electrode substrate consists of a transparent substrate 1, a transparent electrode 2, and an EC layer 3, and the counter electrode substrate consists of a transparent substrate 4 and a transparent electrode 5. The electrode surfaces are arranged to face each other, and an electrolyte 6 is arranged between them. Note that since this example shows the basic configuration, seals and the like are omitted. In this example, the electrode extraction part is provided on the left side, and the voltage E _A is applied to the display electrode and the voltage E _B is applied to the counter electrode. A low resistance electrode lead, such as a metal strip, for taking out the electrode is provided on the left side. By adopting such a configuration, the left side is colored darkly over the entire length, and the right side is lightly colored, resulting in a blurred appearance. In this case, the sheet resistance R of the transparent electrode is preferably R・≧300Ω/□・cm with respect to the length.
≧500Ω/□・cm, particularly preferably R・≧
It is preferable to set it to 1000 Ω/□·cm, which allows good blurring to be obtained. Note that this resistance is particularly effective in the transparent electrode on the display electrode side. Furthermore, it is also possible to short-circuit the other ends of the display electrode and the counter electrode, or to connect them through a resistor, although the coloring will gradually disappear. FIG. 2 is a plan view of another example of the present invention, showing only the state of the display electrode substrate. In part ₁ , highly uniform coloring is obtained, and in _{part 2} , a blur is obtained.
In this case, the above-mentioned value of R. may be determined by ₂ . B is an example in which low-resistance electrode leads 10 are provided on all sides, transparent electrodes 11 are provided, and the coloring becomes less toward the center. In the present invention, a light control body with an electrode extraction part formed on one side as shown in the example shown in Figure 1 is suitable, but it is also suitable for the example shown in Figure 2, and even those with shapes such as hexagons and circles. can also be applied. Furthermore, the electrode may not be a solid electrode on the entire surface, but may be divided into a plurality of parts and connected by low resistance leads to form a striped blur, or a part without EC may be created and always in a transparent state. In addition, although not shown in the above example, the electrode extraction part is composed of lead wires, pins, connectors, plugs, metal plates, etc., ultraviolet cut film, thermal Laminating anti-film, color film, film for semi-transparent mirrors, etc., forming a display section such as a clock display section or temperature display section on a part of the light control body, dividing the light control body into multiple sections and forming each section separately. Applications such as performing dimming operations are also possible. Example 1 In ₂ O ₃ −SnO ₂ on a glass plate with W = 10 cm and = 15 cm
The transparent electrode is 800 Å (approximately R = 50 Ω/□), 200
Using a transparent substrate deposited with Å (approximately R = 200Ω/□),
On the display electrode side, WO ₃ was deposited to a thickness of 6000 Å, placed at intervals of 200 μm, the periphery was sealed, and an electrolyte containing 0.2 M LiI dissolved in butanol was injected to form a light control body. In addition, a low-resistance metal lead placed along the entire length of one short side is placed under the sealing material, and both electrodes are taken out from the same side.
Table 1 shows the transmittance when a voltage of 1 was applied for 1 minute.

[Table] The transmittance ratio near the electrode extraction portion and near the opposite end was approximately twice as high. Furthermore, when both electrodes were kept open after the voltage application was stopped, there was almost no change in transmittance for about one hour, and considerable blur remained even after 24 hours. Example 2 Into the same cell as in Example 1, propylene carbonate to which 0.05M of ferrocene and 0.5M of LiClO ₄ were added was injected as an electrolyte to prepare a light control body. Table 2 shows the transmittance when a voltage of 1V was applied to this for 1 minute.

[Table] In this example, the redox potential of the electrolyte is lower than in Example 1, so the concentration difference tends to be large. Transmittance of more than 50% was obtained on the opposite side of the extraction side. Furthermore, when both electrodes were kept open after the voltage application was stopped, there was almost no change in transmittance for about one hour. As described above, the dimmer of the present invention is capable of blurred dimming that takes full advantage of the memory property of the EC dimmer, and can be used in various applications in the future.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a basic example of the light control body of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of another example of the present invention. Transparent substrate: 1, 4, transparent electrode: 2, 5, 8,
9, 11, EC layer: 3.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) In a light control body comprising a display electrode substrate provided with an electrochromic substance and a counter electrode substrate provided with a counter electrode, which are stacked facing each other with an electrolyte interposed therebetween, the display electrode and a transparent electrode of the counter electrode are each connected to a low resistance electrode lead arranged along the entire length of one side, and the display electrode and the counter electrode are taken out from the same side and connected to a driving power source. body. (2) The light control body according to claim 1, wherein the transparent electrode has a sheet resistance R of R≧500Ω/□cm with respect to the length of the display electrode. .