Ionic impurity control by a photopolymerisation process of reactive mesogen

Abstract

Extremely low ion density, 10−8−10−11 molar fraction, which inevitably exists due to residual ion impurities even in a purified liquid crystal (LC) compound, can significantly influence the electro-optic response in LC devices. We found that the density of ionic molecules increased with the addition of various dopants including triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO), molecules with the functional group of aldehyde, epoxide and so on into a nematic LC cell by observing the electrical response of the LC cells and that the irradiation of ultraviolet (UV) light accelerated the generation of ionic molecules, indicating degradation of organic materials. However, the addition of reactive mesogen (RM) compounds to the LC mixture significantly decreased the effective density of ions during and after the photopolymerisation process. The cured RM networks effectively captured the ion impurities during the photopolymerising process and their ion capturing ability was sustained even after completing the photopolymerisation process. This observation may provide a simple and useful way to control the effective ion density in a liquid medium down to extremely low levels.