Low power operated highly luminescent ferroelectric liquid crystal doped with CdSe/ZnSe core/shell quantum dots

ABSTRACT

We report the enhancement in the molecular ordering of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) doped with CdSe/ZnSe graded core/shell (CZ) quantum dots (QDs) by using optical methods. Significant decrease in operating voltage and enhancement in optical brightness are assigned to the large primary order parameter (θ) and hence anchoring of FLC molecules by CZ QDs. The enhancement in photoluminescence is conjectured to be due to an increase in molecular alignment yielding higher absorption which is confirmed by excitation spectra. These observations would definitely offer a promising tool to get superior core/shell QD incorporated FLC-based display devices.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Photoluminescence
• molecular ordering
• helical pitch
• core/shell quantum dots
• ferroelectric liquid crystals

Acknowledgments

Dr A. M. Biradar and Dr Amit Choudhary from National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Delhi, are kindly acknowledged for temperature-dependent spontaneous polarisation measurements. The authors are thankful to UGC-DAE, CSR, Indore, for ferroelectric measurements. The authors would also like to thank Dr Aditi Mukharjee from Department of Geology, S. P. Pune University for allowing us to use the polarisation microscope.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplementary data for the article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

S.D. acknowledges S. P. Pune University, DST-India and UGC-UPE for the financial support.