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

Abstract

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.