Optical and electrical control of circularly polarised fluorescence in CdSe quantum dots dispersed polymer stabilised cholesteric liquid crystal shutter

ABSTRACT

In the present communication, we report on the synthesis and electro-optic investigation of photosensitive CdSe quantum dots (QDs) dispersed polymer stabilised liquid crystal (PSCLC) luminescent gel. The assembly of the fluorescence properties of CdSe QDs facilitate the anisotropy of PSCLC gel and hence manipulates the optical and electro-optic switching properties, which was further investigated using polarised fluorescence spectrophotometer. The circularly polarised fluorescence intensity was tuned electrically so as to affect the orientations of liquid crystal in the helix. It was found that the electro-optic switching behaviour of QDs-doped sample predicts the improvement in threshold voltage and hence makes them applicable for the switchable liquid crystal contrivances with low power consumption.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Quantum dots (QDs)
• polarised fluorescence spectroscopy
• electro-optic switching
• morphology

Acknowledgement

The valuable comments from the reviewer are gratefully acknowledged by the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.