Developing single-pixel full-color liquid crystal displays (LCDs) that do not require orientation layers and color filters is highly desirable since this would allow to better optimize their image resolution and light utilization efficiency while considerably reducing fabrication cost. However, so far, organic polymers have shown only limited color modulation range and inorganic materials have mostly been limited to on-and-off switches. Here, we report single-pixel full-color modulation along with gray scale control in electrically responsive two-dimensional (2D) inorganic sheets using α-ZrP and Ca2Nb3O10 as our model materials. We demonstrate modulation of transmitted light spanning the entire visible spectrum at an ultralow driving electric field strength (below 10.4 V mm−1), which is one to two orders of magnitude lower than required for conventional organic liquid crystals. We attribute this unusually high performance to the surface charge, the ultra-small thickness, and the large electro-optic anisotropy of the 2D sheets used in this study. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an LCD that efficiently combines gray scale and full-color modulation without the need for color filters or orientation layers. Our work thus opens the door to new types of LCDs and the simplicity of our setup allows its potential integration in various other information and image display systems.

中文翻译：

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基于无机纳米片的电光器件，具有单像素全彩和灰度控制


开发不需要取向层和彩色滤光片的单像素全彩液晶显示器 （LCD） 是非常可取的，因为这将可以更好地优化其图像分辨率和光利用效率，同时大大降低制造成本。然而，到目前为止，有机聚合物只显示出有限的颜色调制范围，而无机材料大多局限于开关。在这里，我们报道了使用 α-ZrP 和 Ca2Nb3O10 作为模型材料在电响应二维 （2D） 无机片材中的单像素全色调制以及灰度控制。我们展示了以超低驱动电场强度（低于 10.4 V mm-1）对跨越整个可见光谱的透射光的调制，这比传统有机液晶的要求低一到两个数量级。我们将这种异常高的性能归因于本研究中使用的 2D 片材的表面电荷、超小厚度和大电光各向异性。据我们所知，这是 LCD 的首次演示，它可以有效地将灰度和全色调制相结合，而无需滤色器或方向层。因此，我们的工作为新型 LCD 打开了大门，我们设置的简单性使其有可能集成到各种其他信息和图像显示系统中。