Room temperature stable helical blue phase enabled by a photo-polymerizable bent-shaped material

A carefully designed polymerizable achiral bent-shaped material was synthesized and homogeneously mixed with a chiral nematic liquid crystal host to form a stable self-organized three-dimensional blue phase liquid crystal nanostructure. Distinguishable from the polymer stabilization commonly used fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices Materials for optical and electronic devices, 2017, Vol.5 (3), p.690-696
Main Authors: Yang, Wei-Qiang, Cai, Guo-Qing, Liu, Zhen, Wang, Xiao-Qian, Feng, Wei, Feng, Yiyu, Shen, Dong, Zheng, Zhi-gang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electric fields
Electric potential
Liquid crystals
Nanostructure
Nematic crystals
Polymerization
Stabilization
Synthesis (chemistry)
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Summary:A carefully designed polymerizable achiral bent-shaped material was synthesized and homogeneously mixed with a chiral nematic liquid crystal host to form a stable self-organized three-dimensional blue phase liquid crystal nanostructure. Distinguishable from the polymer stabilization commonly used for widening the temperature range, such a bent-shaped dopant possesses two-fold effects. On one hand, a wide blue phase range can be readily induced from a chiral nematic phase due to the unique bent-shaped geometry; on the other hand, the blue phase range can be widened further through subsequent photo-crosslinking owing to two polymerizable acrylate terminal groups. A blue phase with a 58 °C range, including the whole room temperature range, was achieved. Moreover, stability under an applied electric-field, which is unachievable for common bent-shaped material induced blue phases, was achieved. The results showed a sub-millisecond response time, which is comparable with normal blue phase liquid crystals, and what is more, hysteresis of the voltage dependent transmittance performance was suppressed. An almost hysteresis-free electro-optical performance, accompanied by a fast responsiveness, is preferable for display and other applications. This work developed another kind of stable blue phase liquid crystal with a satisfying thermal and electro-optical performance, thereby facilitating its perspective applications.
ISSN:2050-7526
2050-7534
DOI:10.1039/C6TC04625H