Morphological Control of Polymer Network in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal

The morphology of polymer fiber network formed in ferroelectric liquid crystal devices was closely observed by optical and scanning electron microscopes, and the formation mechanism of the polymer was investigated for obtaining a rigid polymer structure supporting substrates. It was found that aligned polymer fibers are formed with fibril aggregation, which is induced by photopolymerization of monofunctional acrylate monomer aligned in parallel with the liquid crystal molecular alignment. As the monomer concentration increases, the polymer fibers are transformed into thicker and harder structures. This self-assembling phenomenon is thought to be induced by the interfacial tension of the liquid-state polymer with comparatively low molecular weight during the polymerization, and the transient unstable polymer morphology that appears in the phase separation process can be fixed by rapid curing of the polymer material.