Thermally bandwidth-controllable reflective liquid crystal films prepared by doping nano-sized electrospun fibers

ABSTRACT

In this study, a polymer-stabilised cholesteric liquid crystal film with broadband reflection was prepared by using a nanofibre film loaded with chiral dopants as the carrier. The nanofibre film prepared by the electrospinning technology ensures that chiral dopants can be uniformly distributed on the film and can be controlled release during the heating process. In order to obtain the maximum non-uniform distribution of the pitch, a series of investigations were conducted on the concentration of the polymerised monomer, polymerisation temperature, and intensity of the ultraviolet light. By screening different experimental conditions, the optimal conditions for broadening the reflection band were obtained, and the reflection bandwidth was broadened from 270 to 425 nm. The prepared cholesteric liquid crystal films with broadband reflection characteristics have potential application value in many fields, such as light-brightening films, smart windows, infrared shielding devices, laser protective coatings, etc.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-uniform pitch distribution
• nanofibre film
• thermal control
• broadband reflection

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. FRF-GF-19-003B), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52073027, 51973017, 51773017), Scientific Research Program Funded by Shaanxi Provincial Education Department (Program No.20JK0959).