Materials for Novel Ultralightweight Thin-film Flexible Displays

This SBIR Phase I project will develop an enabling electrochromic fiber and ribbon technology with the form/function factor precisely required for direct integration into woven fabrics. ITN Energy Systems, Inc. will leverage it's patented and in-housesolid-state flexible thin-film lithium battery technology to develop the appropriate scalable processing needed to form electrochromic stacks of lithiated vanadium pentoxide, LiPON, lithiated tungsten oxide, and indium-tin-oxide layers on flexible ribbonand fiber substrates to demonstrate the feasibility of developing and commercializing materials for active flexible color displays. Electrochromic fibers and ribbons form the basic building blocks that (1) can be integrated into any woven structure toprovide the army with large area active color control to generate patterns or characters for information displays, (2) have the correct geometry and similar density and flexibility as existing textile materials used as clothing or collapsible shelters, (3)can be made environmentally durable, (4) require minimal amounts of power to change color and no power to maintain a color, and (5) can be made with low cost processes and materials. The main innovations that must be resolved for commercial viabilityinclude developing scalable and economic processing that can create durable electrochromic ribbons and fibers, and developing the fabric integration processing and electronic registry needed for active color displays. Development of a base component building block such as a fiber or ribbon that can be directly integrated into woven fabrics for active displays is an enabling technology that will revolutionize the textile industry. Besides light weight informationdisplays integrated into clothing and collapsible shelters, electrochromic fibers and ribbons could be used to make a number of commercial products including bill boards and large screens with continuously changing advertisements or displays with no needof projectors, window coverings and awnings that can increase or decrease the amount of transmitted light, and applications where large area color changes are desired. Development of electrochromic fibers and ribbons is the key innovative step that willallow ITN to provide the textile industry with active color changing threads (building blocks) that can be integrated into any form or pattern imaginable.