The regulation of electro-optical properties and polymer morphology of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films with silicon nanostructure

ABSTRACT

In this work, the thiol modified silica nanostructures (SiO₂-SH) were doped into polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films. The SEM was used to observe the morphology of the polymer microstructure. The electro-optical (E-O) property test was determined by a liquid crystal parameter tester. The SEM images suggested that the SiO₂-SH nanoparticles can react with acrylate groups to form the polymer matrix. The saturation voltage decreased by half in the sample when the dosage of the SiO₂-SH nanoparticles was 7.5 wt%, which may be due to the reduced anchoring strength of the polymer matrix incorporated with silicon nanoparticles resulting from the lower surface energy and the enhanced steric repulsions of LC droplets and polymer matrix. In addition, the preparation conditions like polymerisation temperatures and UV light intensity also effectively regulated the E-O properties and polymer microstructure of the PDLC film with silica nanostructure. Thus, the results showed that the E-O properties and the polymer morphology of PDLC films with silicon nanostructures can be effectively regulated by doping SiO₂-SH nanoparticles and regulating the preparation conditions such as the polymerisation temperature and UV light intensity. This work can provide practical guidance for modulating the properties of PDLC films.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal
• silicon nanostructure
• electro-optical properties
• polymer morphology
• preparation conditions

Disclosure statement

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

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2024.2313012

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [2022YFB3603703], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 52173263] and the Qinchuangyuan High-level Talent Project of Shaanxi [No. QCYRCXM-2022-219] and the Scientific Research Program Funded by Shaanxi Provincial Education Department [No.21JK0958].