Abstract
An organic solvent sensor of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) film is fabricated by a combination of tri-functional monomers and LCs. When the patterned PDLC film comes into contact with the organic solvent, the organic solvent will penetrate into the film to induce the orientation of the liquid crystals, which will change from an ordered to a disordered state, which causes the PDLC film to scatter incident light. The experiment used acetone and ethanol as the organic solvents of interest. The results show that the patterned PDLC film has a stronger response to acetone than to ethanol. Based on the difference in the intensity of light scattering and the response time of the patterned PDLC film to different organic solvents, the results can be used to identify and recognize different types of organic solvents.
Highlights
3c shows the film without exposure to of the light to pass through the analyzer, and the image of patterned polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (LCs) (PDLCs) film appears acetone
The alignment direction of patterned PDLC film was at a 45-degree angle with
When the rubbing direction and the polarizer have an angle of 45 degrees, the LC orientation was not parallel to the direction of the polarizer, causing part of the light to pass through the analyzer, and the image of patterned PDLC film appears to acetone
Summary
The combination of polymers and liquid crystals (LCs) can be classified into different configurations via the properties of the polymers, including LC cells with photoconductive polymer films [1,2], LC cells with polymer structures [3,4], polymer-stabilized LCs (PSLCs) [5,6,7], polymer-dispersed LCs (PDLCs) [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18], and LC elastomers [19]. Application of voltages to the PDLC films makes them transparent due to the matching of the refractive indices of the LC droplets and polymers [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. The transmittances of the PDLC films can be modulated by external voltages, and polarizers are not required at the transmittance modulation. PDLC films have potential in developing electro-optic devices such as displays [8,9,10,11,12], lenses [13,14], sensors [15,16], gratings [17,18], lasers [20,21,22], and light modulators [23,24,25]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
