Effect of the introduction of mono-functional monomer on the electro-optic properties of reverse-mode polymer stabilised cholesteric liquid crystal

ABSTRACT

As a kind of polymer stabilised liquid crystal (PSLC) devices, the scattering-type polymer-stabilised cholesteric liquid crystal (PSCLC) devices can be switched between the transparent state and the scattering state, which has huge application potential in the fields of smart windows, light valves, light modulators and others. The effect of polymer network texture on the electro-optical properties of PSLC. The monomers used in traditional polymer-stabilised cholesteric liquid crystals are usually bi-functional liquid crystal structure monomers. The operating voltage is high, and the hysteresis effect is also large. In this article, the mono-functional polymer monomer is added in reverse-mode polymer stabilised cholesteric liquid crystals (RPSCLC), it is found that when the weight content of the mono-functional monomer is close to that of bi-functional monomer, the large drop of the operating voltage is realised and the contrast ratio effect is increased, and the hysteresis effect can be greatly reduced. Combined with the morphology of the polymer network, the physical mechanism of the influence of mono-functional monomers on the electro-optic properties of PSCLC is revealed. The sample has the simple manufacturing process, uniform size of polymer network, low operating voltage, low hysteresis effect and high contrast ratio. The results will provide the important influence on the research of PSLC.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Polymer stabilised liquid crystal
• mono-functional monomer
• polymer network
• electro-optical properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [Grant Number 2018YFB0703701], and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 61475042].