Effects of rigid structures containing (meth)acrylate monomers and crosslinking agents with different chain length on the morphology and electro-optical properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films

ABSTRACT

This contribution investigates the preparation of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films based on meth(acrylate) monomers containing rigid structures. The current study specifically focuses on comparison of the monomers on the basis of meth(acrylate) side group, flexible/rigid structures and rigidity. We find that methacrylate monomers exhibit more preferable electro-optic properties than that of the acrylate monomers. Furthermore, through the systematic variation of rigidity, composition of the monomers and chain length of crosslinking agents, both the morphologies and electro-optic properties of these films are found to be adjustable. A composite film is demonstrated by employing moderately rigid monomer (tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate) with low driving voltage (21.0 V) and high contrast ratio (87.5). Therefore, the studies here provide a new approach to optimize the electro-optical properties of the PDLC films by introducing monomers with rigid structures.

KEYWORDS:

• Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal
• meth(acrylate) monomers
• rigid structure
• microstructure
• electro-optical properties

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [grant number 2018YFB0703704], the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [grant numbers 51720105002, 51573003], the joint fund of the Ministry of Education for Equipment Pre-Research [grant number 6141A02033238].