Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Shinich Nakano

Hiroko Niwano

An ionic colored liquid according to the present invention moves with a voltage application, and contains as principal components at least a coloring material whose base material is a pigment, and an ambient temperature molten salt combining a cation and an anion. The coloring material has a mean volume particle diameter of equal to or smaller than 5 &#x3bc;m and a coefficient of variation in a volume particle size distribution of equal to or smaller than 50. In an image display apparatus according to the present invention, a surface energy of the ionic colored liquid () is varied according to whether or not a voltage is applied to the ionic colored liquid (), thereby moving the ionic colored liquid () or increasing/decreasing a surface area of the liquid on a display surface side, so that an image is displayed. In this manner, the ionic colored liquid can be dispersed stably in a dispersion medium and applied to an electric-field induction type electronic paper display or the like.

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Nara, Japan

Shinich Nakano