Tailoring the physical parameters of ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture with cadmium selenide quantum dots

Abstract

ABSTRACT Present studies demonstrate the dispersion effect of cadmium selenide quantum dots on ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture properties. Varying concentrations of cadmium selenide quantum dots (0.05 wt.%, 0.10 wt.% and 0.50 wt.%) have been taken to investigate its influence on the physical parameters of ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture KCFLC 10R. Phase transition, textural, electro-optical and photoluminescence studies have been performed in planar aligned cells. The presence of QDs disturbs the geometrical symmetry and molecular tilt of ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules which results in the modification of physical parameters of ferroelectric liquid crystal. It has been observed that doped samples have shown decrement in spontaneous polarisation and rotational viscosity. However, there is an improvement in the response time of the doped samples. The reduction in the spontaneous polarisation with voltage signifies that doped samples can operate at low voltage (~6 V) as compared to ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture (~12 V). Photoluminescence studies reveal that all the samples absorb UV light ~340 nm and produce visible emission at ~ 400 nm which can behave as UV light storage and high contrast display. This would be beneficial for luminescent displays as well as UV to visible light conversion applications.