Thiol-ene reaction based polymer dispersed liquid crystal composite films with low driving voltage and high contrast ratio

ABSTRACT

In this study, polymer dispersed liquid crystal composite films are obtained via a one-step fabrication technique based on photo-initiated polymerization-induced phase separation in a thiol-vinyl ether reaction. The effects of the compositions of two vinyl monomers, curing light intensity, curing light time, liquid crystal content and thiol content on the electro-optic properties of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal films were systematically investigated. It was demonstrated that a composite film with a low driving voltage (33.7 V), high contrast ratio (228.1) and short response time (<5.0 ms) was achieved. This is of great significance for the potential applications of polymer dispersed liquid crystal composite films.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Thiol-ene reaction
• polymer dispersed liquid crystal
• driving voltage
• contrast ratio

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 51573003 and 51602007).