Fluorosilane-bridged high-reliability dielectric interfaces for Electrowetting application

Electrowetting represents a promising approach for the precise manipulation of liquids at the microscale and possesses considerable potential for advancements in digital microfluidics. However, anti-penetration failures and interfacial gap defects in multilayer films markedly increase leakage current, which inevitably cause device failure, threatening a critical challenge for practical implementation of electrowetting devices. This study presents a fluorosilane molecular welding strategy to achieve atomic-scale chemical bridging at dielectric/hydrophobic interfaces. The approach demonstrates a peak leakage current of 330 pA/cm 2 , effectively reducing penetration current by 97.4%, while maintaining the average current fluctuations at an exceptionally low picoampere level. We elucidate the coupling effect between current leakage and failure in electrowetting displays and address this issue through a dual-barrier design, ultimately achieving a display device that maintains a stable aperture ratio of 67% without any microscopically observable electrode damage after 9 million cycles at potential engineering application level, even under accelerated aging conditions. This advancement contributes to the development of electrical breakdown resistance functional interfaces and improves the reliability of industrial devices, thereby benefiting emerging microfluidic applications such as reflective displays and dynamic microlenses.