聚合物分散液晶膜

聚合物分散液晶膜是将液晶和聚合物结合,得到的一种综合性能优异的膜材料,液晶分子赋予了聚合物分散液晶膜显著的电光特性,使其受到了广泛的研究,并有着广阔的应用前景。而聚合物作为成膜材料,起着辅助但是重要的作用,其结构和固化过程是影响聚合物分散液晶膜电光特性的重要因素。本文简要综述了聚合物分散液晶膜的制备方法、电光特性的影响因素及研究手段。     

紫外光固化PDLC膜的形态及电光性能

选用紫外光固化法制备了聚合物分散液晶（ＰＤＬＣ）膜，以ＳＬＭ方法对其形态结构进行了考察，进而测试了ＰＤＬＣ的电光性能，并讨论了性能与结构的关系。     

多官能Iniferter制备聚合物分散液晶膜及其含量对电光性能的影响

采用可逆加成-断裂链转移(RAFT)、引发转移终止(Iniferter)活性自由基聚合法分步骤制备多官能Iniferter的大分子(RAFT-MI),并通过紫外光聚合诱导相分离法制备接枝共聚物为基体的聚合物分散液晶(PDLC)膜,研究了不同含量的RAFT-MI对PDLC膜的微观形貌、开态透光率、阈值电压(Vth)、饱和电压(Vsat)、对比度和记忆效应的影响.结果表明,当PDLC中的RAFT-MI含量从10%增加到30%时,开态透光率先增加,随后又逐渐降低,而Vth、Vsat逐渐降低,对比度先增加,然后又降低,记忆效应减弱.     

聚合物分散液晶PMMA-5CB的制备及电光性能

以聚合引发相分离的方法制备了聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PMMA)基聚合物分散液晶(PDLC).通过差示量热扫描仪(DSC)、偏光显微镜(POM)对不同液晶5CB(4-氰基-4'-戊基联苯)含量的PDLC热力学行为和液晶分散状态进行了表征.在电压为0～30 V、波长为633 nm处,用紫外可见分光光度计(UV-Vis)对PDLC的电光性能进行了研究.结果表明当w(5CB)达到20%以上时,PDLC发生相分离现象;当w(5CB)=30%时,液晶的分散状态最佳,电光效应最强.     

新型液晶高分子膜的制备及其电光性能

采用聚合相分离原理制备了一种电光性能优良的新型液晶高分子膜—— PDLC膜. 从应用角度出发, 创新性地使用白光而非可见光区某一波长的光表征PDLC膜的性能参数, 如对比度、工作电压、响应视角等, 测试结果表明该膜工作电压为20 V、响应视角150°以上、寿命达105数量级且性能稳定, 同时比较了基片材质的影响, 发现塑料ITO基片制备的PDLC膜对比度性能更优越, 且容易制成大面积、可折叠的显示器件, 有着更广泛的应用价值. 该膜在传感器以及分析仪器元器件如新型光栅等方面已显示出其潜在的应用前景.     

不同醇对聚合物分散液晶光聚合动力学及其电光特性的影响

以丙烯酸-2-乙基己酯(EHA)、二甲基丙烯酸乙二酯(EDMA)/季戊四醇四丙烯酸酯(PETTA)为混合单体、液晶P0616A为液晶相、Irgacure 184为光引发剂,通过UV光引发制备了聚合物分散液晶(PDLCs),研究了不同烷基链长醇,即乙醇(EtOH)、正丁醇(nBA)、正己醇(nHA)、正辛醇(nOA)和正十四醇(nTA)对体系光聚合动力学及其PDLCs液晶相变温度及电光特性的影响.结果表明引入醇分子显著加快了丙烯酸酯/液晶复合体系的光聚合反应速率,提高了单体的最终转化率,其中以正丁醇体系最为明显.随着醇分子烷基链的增长,体系的转化率趋于降低,但依然明显高于不含醇的体系.醇分子的加入降低了PDLCs中液晶相的TNI,且随着醇分子烷基链长的增长,PDLCs液晶相的TNI总体上呈降低的趋势.醇分子的加入增加了PDLCs液晶微区中向列相液晶的含量,而含正丁醇和正十四醇的体系液晶微区中向列相液晶低于其它3个含醇体系.醇分子的加入明显降低了PDLCs的阈值电压和饱和电压以及对比度.结合体系的光聚合速率和单体转化率,正丁醇是改善PDLCs性能的最佳选择.     

紫外固化PDLC膜的形态及电光性能

选用紫外光固化法制备了聚合物分散液晶（ＰＤＬＣ）膜。以ＳＥＭ方法对其形态结构进行了考察，进而测试了ＰＤＬＣ的电光性能，并讨论了性能与结构的关系。     

聚合物网络分散液晶复合膜的制备与性能研究

报道了一种新型树脂基的聚合物网络分散晶复合膜材料。研究了基体材料的组成，液晶种类，液晶含量，聚合温度，紫外光强度及聚合时间等聚合物网络分散液晶复合膜性能的影响。扫描电子显微镜观测，发现这种材料是由两个连相互穿构成了属于聚合物球型。     

单体结构对全息聚合物分散液晶光栅稳定性的影响

使用3种不同化学结构的单体材料制备了全息聚合物分散液晶光栅,并从光栅形貌、衍射能力、驱动特性、聚合物热稳定性4个方面评价了光栅的热稳定性.研究发现,含有刚性结构单体材料体系的光栅形貌、衍射能力等方面在200℃的温度下没有明显变化.表明光栅的热稳定性与单体材料的化学结构密切相关,单体材料中含有刚性结构有助于光栅热稳定性的提高.利用热重分析(TGA)对光栅中聚合物材料热分解温度进行了测定,并结合Freeman-Carroll微商法计算出了上述聚合物的分解活化能和分解反应级数.结果发现,含有刚性结构的聚合物材料的热分解温度、分解活化能和分解反应级数都高于柔性链结构材料,进一步验证了材料体系中刚性结构的添加有助于提高光栅的热稳定性.     

聚合物 分散液晶体系的相分离结构对温度依赖性的研究

在不同温度下采用紫外光引发相分离法制备了聚合物分散液晶样品．用光学显微镜及扫描电镜研究了样品的相分离结构．采用对样品施加电压观察其微结构轮廓，或测量液晶微粒相变点的简单方法研究了聚合温度对相分离结果的影响．结果表明，在一定温度范围内，随着温度的增高，液晶微粒的平均尺寸趋于减小，而且形成的液晶微粒也逐渐变纯．作者给出了这些测试结果并进行了讨论．     

Effects of the fluorinated liquid crystal molecules on the electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films

The different fluorinated liquid crystal (LC) molecules doped to E8 were used as LC component to prepare polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films. The mass fraction of the LC mixture is fixed 50.0 wt%. Results indicate that doping 8.0 wt% fluorinated LC molecule ME3CP to E8 significantly reduced the driving voltage of the PDLC films, and the driving voltage reduced with the rise of mass fraction of ME3CP. Besides, the terminal flexible chain length of the fluorinated LC molecule influenced the LC mixture properties based on E8, such as the dielectric anisotropy, birefringence and viscosity of the LC mixture, and the morphology and the electro-optical properties of PDLC films were controlled not only by the physical properties of the LC mixture, but also by the terminal flexible chain length of the fluorinated LC molecule .     

A study on the polymer structures and electro-optical properties of epoxy-mercaptan-based polymer dispersed liquid crystal films

ABSTRACT

In this paper, polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films based on epoxy-mercaptan system were prepared by thermal-initiated polymerization. The effects of the liquid crystal (LC) content, the proportion and the functionality of epoxy monomers on the polymer structures and electro-optical properties of the as-made PDLC films were investigated systematically. It was found that the morphologies of the polymer matrix can be altered from polymer meshes to polymer balls by increasing the LC content as well as the functionality of epoxy monomers. Accordingly, the electro-optical properties could be regulated by the morphologies of polymer networks. Especially, the as-made PDLC films with homogeneous porous structures exhibited the optimal electro-optical properties. Consequently, this work offers a meaningful approach to control the microstructures and optimize the electro-optical properties of PDLC films, which indeed can form a wonderful footstone for the wide application of PDLC.     

Reverse-mode polymer dispersed liquid crystal films prepared by patterned polymer walls

This article proposes a methodology to prepare polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films working in the reverse-mode operation, where the ion-doped nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) with negative dielectric anisotropy (Δε) were locked by polymer walls. On-state and off-state of films were controlled by an electric field. In the absence of an electric field, it appears to be transparent. In the field, the homogeneous alignment NLCs form dynamic scattering, giving rise to opaque. The effect of the cylindrical holes with different diameters of photo masks and liquid crystal Δε on the electro-optical properties and transmittance wavelength range of 400–3000 nm light of samples were investigated. It was found that it exhibited very good electro-optical characteristics, high contrast ratio and excellent infrared energy-efficient of films used as switchable windows.     

Modification of electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films by iniferter polymerization

In this letter, iniferter polymerization was employed to prepare polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films. Polystyrene (PS) was prepared as a macro-iniferter (MI). With the addition of MI in PDLC films, poly(methyl acrylate)-b-polystyrene was prepared in situ and used as polymer matrix in photopolymerization induced phase separation (PIPS). A reduction in driving voltages and an improvement in the ON state transmittance were observed for the sample prepared with a small amount of MI; while a poor electro-optical performance was obtained for that without any MI. Moreover, molecular weight and refractive index of the polymer matrix could be easily adjusted by the concentration of MI, and the matrix seems to be a prospective material for the PDLC devices.     

Study on the electro-optical properties of polyimide-based polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films

The reflectivity control device, initially developed for attitude control, is utilised to control the solar sail orbit by switching the states between absorption and specular reflection. Actually, the major parts of the device are the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films. Here, PDLC films based on polyimide (PI) as polymer matrix and a low molecular weight LC can be prepared by the thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) method. The influences of cooling rate and the content of LC on the size and uniformity of LC droplets dispersed in a polymer matrix by a TIPS process were investigated. It was found that a fast cooling rate gave smaller droplet sizes and hence a more uniform distribution as compared to the ones produced under a slow cooling rate. If the LC content was increased, the droplet size would be increased. Furthermore, the effect of LC droplet size on the electro-optical properties of the PI-based PDLC films was discussed, such as transmittance, threshold voltage, driving voltage and contrast ratio (CR).     

Cyano terminated tolane compounds for polymer dispersed liquid crystal application: relationship between cyano terminated tolane based molecular structures and electro-optical properties

ABSTRACT

The structures of the liquid crystal (LC) molecules have a key role in impacting the electro-optical performance of a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film. In this paper, the relationship between the LC molecular structures and the electro-optical properties of PDLC films is investigated based on an unexplored cyano-terminated tolane compounds (CTTCs) doped E8 LCs/UV polymers system. Due to the high polarity of CTTCs, LCs doped with the cyano-terminated tolane (CTT) molecules exhibit high birefringence and large positive dielectric anisotropy. On the whole, PDLC films doped with the CTT molecules exhibit a lower driving voltage than that doped with the pure E8. More excitingly, PDLC films based on CTT molecules with larger length-to-width ratio and longer conjugated system show higher contrast ratio (CR) and faster response time. Eventually, the mechanism of the effects of CTT-based molecular structures and the relationship between the electro-optical performance of PDLC films and CTT molecules are illustrated. This work paves a new way for optimising the electro-optical properties of PDLC films.     

Effects of monomer structure on the morphology of polymer networks and the electro-optical properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films

Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films were prepared by photochemical polymerisation with a series of (meth)acrylate monomers. The effects of monomer structure on the morphology of polymer networks in the PDLC films were studied. The acrylate monomers without sidegroup chain formed uniform polymer networks. The methacrylate monomers with methyl as their sidegroup chains formed lace-like networks. The size of the LC droplets increased with increasing the length of the flexible chain of both methacrylate and acrylate monomers. Meanwhile, the effects of the morphology of the polymer network on the electro-optical properties of PDLC films were also investigated.     

Preparation and electro‐optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films with relatively low liquid crystal content

In this paper, polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) films with LC content as low as 40 wt% were prepared, and the electro‐optical properties were carefully investigated. To accomplish this, different (meth)acrylate copolymerizaiton monomers have been used. The electro‐optical properties and morphologies of the PDLC films were strongly influenced by the chemical structure of copolymerization monomers (hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA), glycidyl methacrylate, hydroxypropyl acrylate) and their feed ratio. Lower driven voltage and higher contrast ratio were achieved when the PDLC films showed a morphology with suitably LC domain size. At high HPMA content, a thin polymer film was formed on the surface of PDLC samples, which is beneficial to decrease the total LC content in PDLC devices. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of the resultant microphase-separated structures of polymer matrices on the electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films by Iniferter polymerization

Iniferter polymerization was employed to prepare polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films and an additional photoinitiator was introduced to induce the phase separation of polymer matrices themselves on the process of preparing the PDLC. The effect of the polymerization kinetics and the resultant microphase-separated structures of polymer matrices on the electro-optical properties of PDLC films were studied. It was found that the bigger length scale of phase separation of polymer matrices induced strong light-scattering resulting in low ON-state transmittance. And faster polymerization kinetic induced higher threshold and saturation voltages.     

Effects of functionality of thiol monomer on electro-optical properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal films

In this paper, polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films which based on the acrylate and the thiol monomers were first prepared by ultraviolet-initiated polymerisation. The electro-optical properties and morphologies of the PDLC films were systematically investigated. The functionality of thiol monomers and their feed ratio showed great influence on the properties of the fabricated PDLC films because of the existence of competition between thiol–acrylate reaction and acrylate monomer polymerisation reaction. This made the polymer network and electro-optical properties of the PDLC films easily tunable by the introduction of the thiol monomers. When added four-functional thiol monomer PETMP with appropriate concentration into the PDLC system, lower driven voltage and higher contrast ratio were achieved.