Exploration of nanofibre/nanoparticle/PDLC composite system

ABSTRACT

The electro-optical properties of the nanofibre/nanoparticle/polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) composite system were investigated. The nanofiber network was prepared by electrostatic spinning and introduced into the PDLC system as a carrier of nanoparticles. The effects of nanofibers and the doping of CeO₂ nanoparticles on the PDLC system were investigated. It was found that the nanofibers had a significant impact on the response time of PDLC, while the nanoparticles could improve the contrast of PDLC very well. The fiber morphology, and the polymer mesh morphology, were characterised by SEM; the distribution of nanoparticles on the fiber was characterized by EDS. The experimental results show that nanofiber/nanoparticle doping can optimise the performance of PDLC and achieve low response time as well as high contrast in display applications.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Electro-optical characteristics
• nanofiber network
• CeO₂ nanoparticles
• Fiber morphology

Acknowledgements

The authors also thanks Dr. Yuzhen Zhao, Dr. Zemin He and Dr. Huimin Zhang of Xijing University for their help in the experimental operation involved in this work.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 52173263], the Regional Innovation Capability Guidance Program of Shaanxi [No. 2022QFY03-02], the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, China [No. 2108085J11], and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Northwestern Polytechnical University [No. D5000210825].