Electrically controllable reflection bandwidth polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals with low operating voltage

ABSTRACT

An electrically controllable reflection bandwidth polymer-stabilised cholesteric liquid crystals (PSCLCs) with low operating voltage is reported. This work focuses on the contribution of the crosslink density of the polymer network to broaden the bandwidth and the ability of the polymer network to trap ionic impurities under direct-current (DC) electric fields. Furthermore, it is shown that the appearance of nonideal optical properties in some samples, such as scatter and haze, is correlated to the polymer/LC compatibility and the soft segments motion under DC electric field. Based on these results, a model relating the motion of the polymer network with the broadening of the reflection bandwidth and the baseline optical properties is developed. This study provides useful guidelines for future PSCLCs production and performance optimisation.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Polymer-stabilised cholesteric liquid crystal
• broadband reflection
• low operating voltage
• thiol-acrylate reaction

Disclosure statement

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

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [2019YFE0101300], National Natural Science Foundation of China [NSFC, Grant 61805066], Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province [1708085MF150] and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [Grant 2019M 652168].