Liquid crystal alignment in nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide layer for LCD panelapplications

Abstract

This paper reports the implementation and integration of a self-assembled nanoporousanodic aluminum oxide (np-AAO) film and liquid crystal (LC) on an ITO–glass substratefor liquid crystal display (LCD) panel applications. An np-AAO layer with a nanoporearray acts as the vertical alignment layer to easily and uniformly align the LCmolecules. Moreover, the np-AAO nanoalignment layer provides outstanding materialproperties, such as being inorganic with good transmittance, and colorless onITO–glass substrates. In this application, an LCD panel, with the LC on the np-AAOnanoalignment layer, is successfully implemented on an ITO–glass substrate, and itsperformance is demonstrated. The measurements show that the LCD panel, consisting ofan ITO–glass substrate and an np-AAO layer, has a transmittance of 60–80%.In addition, the LCD panel switches from a black state to a bright state at 3 Vrms, with a response time of 62.5 ms. In summary, this paper demonstrates the alignment of LCon an np-AAO layer for LCD applications.