Crystal-liquid crystal ordered double layer electroactive polymer prepared with phase transition sequential polymerization, showing metallic electrochromism-bronze, silver, and gold

Polymerization-induced phase separation in a liquid-crystal-polymer mixture.

Polarizer-free liquid crystal display with double microlens array layers and polarization-controlling liquid crystal layer.

We propose a polarizer-free liquid crystal display (LCD) consisting of two microlens array (MLA) layers, a twisted nematic (TN) LC layer, and two light-blocking masks. By changing the polarization state, focal length of the LCD can be controlled. Since two light-blocking masks have a circular stop pattern and a complementary open pattern, entire gray-scale spectrum may be realized by controllin...

Liquid crystal alignment with a molecular template of imprinted polymer layer during phase separation

We developed a liquid crystal LC alignment method using a molecular template of an imprinted polymer layer during polymerization-induced phase separation. Our results showed that the nematic ordering of LC is transferred to the polymer chain ordering during an anisotropic phase separation, which produces an anisotropic azimuthal surface anchoring. Using in-plane field treatment during phase sep...

A liquid crystal polymer based single layer chemo-responsive actuator.

A single layer, mono-component, fast, stable, and controllable curling motion actuator is prepared from a mixture of di-acrylate mesogenic monomer and 5CB using a photo-polymerization induced phase separation method. This actuator is capable of sensing water in acetone.

Phase switching of ordered arrays of liquid crystal emulsions

Polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) are a well established technology for electrooptic devices used in displays and light switches. They rely on dispersions of nematic liquid crystal material in a polymer matrix. In the absence of an electric field, the director field n(r), which characterizes the local average orientation of the rodlike nematic mesogens, is randomly oriented, leading to a...