Studies on the electro‐optical properties of polymer stabilised cholesteric liquid crystal/aerosil particles composites

Abstract

Normal‐mode polymer stabilised cholesteric liquid crystal (Ch‐LC)/aerosil particles (APs) composites are prepared by photo‐polymerisation of the photo‐polymerisable monomer in the electrically induced homeotropically oriented cholesteric phase of a photo‐polymerisable monomer/Ch‐LC/APs mixture. On the application of an electric field, the composites can change from a light scattering state to a transparent state accompanied by the texture changing from a focal conic texture to an electrically induced homeotropic texture. Moreover, the process was greatly influenced by the addition of the APs. The focus of this study is on the effects of the APs on the electro‐optical performance and the morphology of polymer network of the composites. The effect of the chiral dopant concentration on the electro‐optical performance is also studied.

Keywords:

• electro‐optical performance
• aerosil particles
• morphology
• liquid crystals

Acknowledgements

Support from the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB613301), Projects of the Chinese National Science and Technology Tackling Key Problems (Grant No. 2006BAI03A09) and the Science and Technology Program of Beijing (Grant No. Y0405004040121) is gratefully acknowledged.