Study on blue phase liquid crystals using photocurable monomers for nano-structured materials

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe try to obtain blue phase (BP) liquid crystals using photocurable mesogenic monomers and a chiral dopant monomer, and to solidify BP structure by UV photocure. Furthermore, we examine the mechanical strength of the solidified BP. BP can be obtained by using all of the photocurable monomers. The appearance of BP strongly depends on the concentration of mesogenic monomers and chiral dopant. BP structure can remain even after the polymerization by utilizing a strong intensity of UV light. In the mechanical property, the hardness of the solidified BP sample strongly depends on the platelet domain structure.