Fabrication of a controllable anti-peeping device with a laminated structure of microlouver and polymer dispersed liquid crystals film

ABSTRACT

Display devices with the narrow viewing angle (NVA) and the wide viewing angle (WVA) characteristics can simultaneously meet the demands for privacy protection and information sharing. Herein, we propose a novel method for fabricating a controllable anti-peeping device with a laminated structure of microlouver and polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) film, and this device can be reversibly switched between a wider viewing angle range (VAR) for the WVA mode and a narrower viewing angle range (VAR) for the NVA mode at 0 V and 8 V, respectively. Also, the VARs of the controllable anti-peeping device can be dynamically tuned by varying dimensions of the microlouver structures and applying various voltages across the PDLCs film from 0 V to 8 V. The as-fabricated device provides display devices with controllable viewing angle characteristics, which can be applied in the display field with fascinating and practical functions.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Display devices
• viewing angle characteristics
• polymer dispersed liquid crystals
• microlouver structures

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 51573006, 51573003 and 51773017), the Joint Foundation of the Equipment Pre-Research Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant No. 6141A020222) and the State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials (Grant No. 2018Z-06).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials [2018Z-06]; Joint Foundation of the Equipment Pre-Research Chinese Ministry of Education [6141A020222]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [51573003, 51573006, 51773017].