Influence of macroinitiator’s glass transition temperature on the response times of polymer dispersed liquid crystals

Abstract

Glass transition temperature (T_g), an important parameter of polymer, was reported to have great influence on the electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs). In this study, macroinitiators with different T_g were synthesised by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerisation, and used to prepare PDLCs with different T_g block chains. The effect of different T_g of the block chains on response times was investigated. It was found that rise time decreased and decay time increased with the decrease of the block chain’s T_g. We proposed a possible mechanism by which T_g of the block chains influence response times.

Keywords:

• polymer dispersed liquid crystals
• glass transition temperature
• response times
• macroinitiators

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 50973067], [grant number 51173115]; the Ministry of Education of China [the Foundation for PhD training, grant number 20110181110030].