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In this work, the effects of the methacrylate monomers with various end groups (methyl, hydroxyl, epoxy, tetrahydrofuran, cyclohexane, benzene and siloxane) on the morphologies, electro-optical and mechanical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) composite films were systematically investigated. The polymer network morphologies of the samples prepared with the monomers butyl methacrylate, tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate, cyclohexyl methacrylate or benzyl methacrylate were observed, and interestingly the polymer balls and polymer ball-networks morphologies were formed by introducing the hydroxypropyl methacrylate and glycidyl methacrylate, respectively. Meanwhile, the films obtained the optimal electro-optical properties with low driving voltage (10.7 V), fast response time (5.0 ms). Finally, the largest shearing force of the prepared PDLC composite films was two to three times better than that of the pristine sample with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TPMA) monomer doping or surface treatment methods. Thus, this work offers a new way to optimise the overall performance of PDLC films for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a series of liquid crystal molecules containing cyano-phenyl-ester was designed and synthesised. Subsequently, a novel cyano-phenyl-ester liquid crystals (CPE-LCs) with a wide temperature range from −30°C to 96.4°C were developed by mixturing these liquid crystal compositions. Then as the host materials, the CPE-LCs were used for preparing polymer-dispersed and polymer-stabilised cholesteric liquid crystals (PD&SCLC) composite films by a stepwise polymerisation. The morphologies and electro-optical properties of the as-made composite films were systematically investigated through varying the acrylate liquid crystalline polymerisable monomers content, chiral doping R1011 content, applied electric field intensity and polymerisation time. Indeed, the formation of homeotropically aligned anisotropic polymer networks (HAAPNs) enabled to reduce the driving voltage of PD&SCLC from 86.6 V to 22.2 V with a reasonable contrast ratio. This work provides a new method to optimise PD&SCLC composite films in terms of the host liquid crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current work aimed to fabricate polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films using heterocyclic acrylate monomers containing oxygen atoms. The incorporation of oxygen heterocycles into the host polymer matrix significantly improved the electro-optical properties of PDLC films. Particularly, the high contrast ratio 330.0 was realized for the monomer Trimethylolpropane formal acrylate (TFA). Further, the excellent electro-optical properties, including low driving voltage (10.0 V), moderately high contrast ratio (64.0) and short response time (<8.0 ms) were obtained when the liquid crystals/polymer composite film thickness decreased from 20 μm to 8 μm. This work has provided a novel materials system to promote the application of PDLC films in the thin-layer liquid crystal display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]