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ABSTRACT
The relationship between linear chain (ethylene oxide units) length of polymerisable monomers with morphology, electro-optical properties and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of the corresponding polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films was investigated. The preferred liquid crystal molecule alignment and permanent memory effect of PDLC were greatly influenced by the length of the molecular chain of prepolymers to be incorporated as a polymer matrix. By increasing the number of ethylene oxide in prepolymer chain and maintaining the number of functionalities (polymerisable groups in each monomer molecule), the permanent memory effect of PDLC increased, as proved by solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy.
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Acknowledgements
Ana Mouquinho acknowledges a grant scholarship SFRH/BD/91870/2012. We acknowledge LabNMR-CENIMAT at FCT-UNL and RNRMN for access to the facilities. RNRMN is supported with funds from the Foundation for Science and Technology (ROTEIRO/0031/2013, PINFRA/22161/2016). This work is also funded by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and FCT/MCTES under the projects number POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007688, Reference UID/CTM/50025/2019 and PTDC/FIS-NAN/0117/2014. LAQV (Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry) is financed by national funds from FCT/MEC (UID/QUI/50006/2013) and co-financed by the ERDF under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007265).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.