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Nano-size distribution of birefringent liquid crystal droplets embedded in the polymer matrix gives rise to an optically isotropic liquid crystal (OILC) phase and the device utilizing OILC composite opens the possibility of alignment layer-free, flexible liquid crystal displays with fast response time. However, few critical issues such as high operating voltages and feeble light scattering are remained to be overcome before their widespread applications. To rectify the drawbacks, a small amount of conductive and anisotropic functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNTs) is doped into conventional OILCs. Consequently, switchable electro-optic properties of the proposed approach reveal that driving voltage is decreased by18.7%, response time becomes fast by 27%, and feeble light leakage is reduced to around 3.8 times, compared to conventional one, which helps the proposed approach to be competitive for display and photonic applications of film type of OILCs.

Over the past few years, industrial pollution has had a negative impact on aquatic life by releasing significant amounts of hazardous chemicals into the ecosystem. Therefore, it is imperative to develop photocatalytic materials with good photocatalytic activity and easy separation. Photocatalytic degradation has been employed for the removal of such contaminants using binary hybrid nanocomposites as photocatalysts. In the present study, binary CuO/Bi2WO6 (CuBW) nanocomposites with different loadings of Bi2WO6 (~5, 10, and 15 mg) were successfully constructed using a simple hydrothermal method and used as a potential photocatalyst for the degradation of tetracycline (TC) and methylene blue (MB) under visible-light irradiation. The structure, surface morphology, and optical properties were studied to investigate the formation of the heterostructure. Among the prepared samples, the CuBW nanocomposite containing the optimum content of Bi2WO6 (~10 mg) exhibited superior activity toward the photocatalytic degradation of TC (97.72%) in 75 min and MB (99.43%) in 45 min under visible-light illumination. Radical trapping experiments suggested that holes and •OH radicals were the dominant reactive species during the photocatalytic process. The photoelectrochemical results also confirmed the improved separation and transfer of electron-hole pairs at the interface of Bi2WO6 and CuO. Our results demonstrate that the binary CuO/Bi2WO6 nanocomposite has significant potential applications in the field of photocatalysis due to its enhanced separation of the photoexcited charge carriers and strong synergistic interactions.

Flexible devices require much higher reliability upon device driving. Because the voltage-driven liquid crystal devices show higher reliability than current-driven devices, flexible liquid crystal devices are relatively suit to open a new application fused with flexible electronics in displays and photonic devices. One plausible approach is to utilize polymer-dispersed liquid crystals with nanoscale droplets of liquid crystals dispersed in a polymer matrix. One of the most significant shortcomings with that approach is high operating voltage due to the strong molecular interaction between liquid crystals and polymer matrices, low fill factor of the system, and a voltage drop in the dielectric polymer matrix. Herein, we show a polymer composite that is blended with conductive PEDOT:PSS polymer to enhance the dielectric property of the system. The composite polymer matrix we show in this work provides a pathway of electric fields via the PEDOT:PSS when applying voltages and eventually reduces the voltage drop in the composite matrix. As a consequence of the enhanced electric field, the Kerr constant and transmittance of probe light passing through the sample mixing with 3.5 wt% of PEDOT:PSS increases up to 11.7 and 37.3% and the operating field decreases up to 17.2%. Furthermore, the rising times are enhanced up to 30% while the decaying times remain the same. We believe that this approach will greatly contribute to the realization of flexible liquid crystal devices.