A long-term stable low-viscous self-organized blue phase liquid crystal superstructure with wide operation temperature range

ABSTRACT

A long-term stable self-organised cubic blue-phase liquid crystal superstructure at a relatively low temperature down to −20°C was achieved through doping a low-molecular-weight and short-chain diluter [4-pentyl-4ʹ-propyl-1,1ʹ-bi(cyclohexyl)] (5CC3) with low viscosity into liquid crystal host. The prepared sample with the diluter-induced low-viscous liquid crystal host not only exhibited a considerably stable cubic structure, but also possessed durable outstanding electro-optical performances, e.g. fast response time, relatively low driving voltage and hysteresis at such a low temperature as compared with those of the conventional polymer stabilised blue-phase liquid crystal. Therefore, we have disclosed a feasible strategy for overcoming the formidable problem of low-temperature applicability of blue-phase liquid crystals, and the proposed diluter-doped polymer stabilised blue-phase liquid crystal paves broad ways for versatile applications of the relevant materials at low temperature.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Polymer stabilised blue phase liquid crystal
• low-viscous diluter
• low temperature
• fast response time
• long-term stable

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61822504, 62035008, 51873060, 61935008, and 61705067), the Shanghai Rising Star Program (Grant No. 17QA1401100) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.