Polymer network as a template for control of photoconductivity of a liquid crystal semiconductor

We report a novel method of confining a photoconducting liquid crystalline material using a polymer templating approach. The attractive feature of this approach is that the magnitude of the photocurrent of the photoconducting material does not diminish, i.e. it is unaltered by the polymer matrix. The results are compared with another method of encapsulation that was recently reported and wherein the photoconductivity decreases upon having the photoconducting material in the polymer matrix. The difference in the behaviour between the two methods is explained using a nanophase segregation model. The method described is particularly suitable for creating patterned photoconductors.