Influence of ZnO NPs on morphological and electro-optical properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals

Abstract

ABSTRACT Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) is a striking material and has an enormous role in electro-optic display devices. In this paper, nanoparticles (NPs) doped PDLCs were prepared from a mixture of UV curable liquid polymer, nematic liquid crystal (LC), and ZnO NPs by the polymerisation induced phase separation (PIPS) process. The morphological and electro-optical properties of PDLC with various diluent contents, liquid crystal contents, and nanomaterial doping were investigated comprehensively, and a morphological study shows that multiple factors jointly affected the droplet size, thereby altering a variety of properties including driving voltage and contrast. Compared with pure PDLC, the NPs doped PDLC reduces the threshold voltage from 39.5 V to 21.1 V and the driving voltage from 71.0 V to 45.0 V, which greatly improves the electro-optical performance of PDLC with a few sacrifices in contrast. This opens new possibilities for achieving a wide range of applications for energy-efficient PDLC.