Investigation on morphology of polymer structure in polymer-stabilized blue phase

ABSTRACT

Polymer stabilization effect to increase the thermal stability of blue phases (BPs) for potential application in flat-panel display has been studied in detail though directly observing the morphology of the polymer network on the substrate formed under different experimental conditions during the polymerization process. The tiny and dense polymer network, in which the diameter of the polymer chain is not greater than 250 nm, is useful for stabilizing the BPI structure. Moreover, these experimental results can be explained by the free-energy density of BPI, where its temperature range depends inversely on the square of the polymer-chain diameter. In terms of the experimental results shown in this study, we can conclude an optimal photo-polymerization process for a wide-temperature-range polymer-stabilized BP.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Blue phase
• polymer stabilized
• morphology
• photopolymerization

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China for financially supporting this research under grant nos. MOST 101-2112-M-005-006-MY3 and MOST 104-2112-M-005-004.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China for financially supporting this research [grant nos. MOST 101-2112-M-005-006-MY3 and MOST 104-2112-M-005-004].