Energy saving phase change energy storage thermochromic liquid crystal display

Abstract

Phase change energy storage microcapsules (PCESM) improve energy utilization by controlling the temperature of the surrounding environment of the phase change material to store and release heat. In this paper, a phase change energy storage thermochromic liquid crystal display (PCES-TC-LCD) is designed and prepared for the first time. The as-prepared PCES-TC-LCD has a stable bilayer structure, where the lower layer is a thermochromic LC layer produced by centrifugal spin coating and high temperature curing, and the upper layer is a polymer-stabilized liquid crystal (PSLC) film with phase change energy storage properties obtained by polymerization-induced phase separation method. The prepared PCES-TC-LCD can realize the functions of triple-field driven and phase change energy storage, which has strong research value. In the performance experiments, the electro-optical properties of PCES-TC-LCD were analyzed and optimized by three sets of experiments on liquid crystal content, polymerization time, and PCESM content. In the film formation study, PCES-TC-LCD based on rigid/flexible substrates were prepared, respectively. The phase change energy storage function of PCES-TC-LCD was performed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and infrared thermography. The devices formed on rigid or flexible substrates with stable phase change energy storage performance, which has great application value by reducing the external energy input, prolonging the thermochromic time and achieving energy saving effects.