Cargando…
Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals
Blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs) composed of double-twisted cholesteric helices are promising materials for use in next-generation displays, optical components, and photonics applications. However, BPLCs are only observed in a narrow temperature range of 0.5–3 °C and must be stabilized with a poly...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8746832/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35009998 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano12010048 |
_version_ | 1784630685017833472 |
---|---|
author | Lee, Kyung Min Tohgha, Urice Bunning, Timothy J. McConney, Michael E. Godman, Nicholas P. |
author_facet | Lee, Kyung Min Tohgha, Urice Bunning, Timothy J. McConney, Michael E. Godman, Nicholas P. |
author_sort | Lee, Kyung Min |
collection | PubMed |
description | Blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs) composed of double-twisted cholesteric helices are promising materials for use in next-generation displays, optical components, and photonics applications. However, BPLCs are only observed in a narrow temperature range of 0.5–3 °C and must be stabilized with a polymer network. Here, we report on controlling the phase behavior of BPLCs by varying the concentration of an amorphous crosslinker (pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA)). LC mixtures without amorphous crosslinker display narrow phase transition temperatures from isotropic to the blue phase-II (BP-II), blue phase-I (BP-I), and cholesteric phases, but the addition of PETA stabilizes the BP-I phase. A PETA content above 3 wt% prevents the formation of the simple cubic BP-II phase and induces a direct transition from the isotropic to the BP-I phase. PETA widens the temperature window of BP-I from ~6.8 °C for BPLC without PETA to ~15 °C for BPLC with 4 wt% PETA. The BPLCs with 3 and 4 wt% PETA are stabilized using polymer networks via in situ photopolymerization. Polymer-stabilized BPLC with 3 wt% PETA showed switching between reflective to transparent states with response times of 400–500 μs when an AC field was applied, whereas the application of a DC field induced a large color change from green to red. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8746832 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-87468322022-01-11 Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals Lee, Kyung Min Tohgha, Urice Bunning, Timothy J. McConney, Michael E. Godman, Nicholas P. Nanomaterials (Basel) Article Blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs) composed of double-twisted cholesteric helices are promising materials for use in next-generation displays, optical components, and photonics applications. However, BPLCs are only observed in a narrow temperature range of 0.5–3 °C and must be stabilized with a polymer network. Here, we report on controlling the phase behavior of BPLCs by varying the concentration of an amorphous crosslinker (pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA)). LC mixtures without amorphous crosslinker display narrow phase transition temperatures from isotropic to the blue phase-II (BP-II), blue phase-I (BP-I), and cholesteric phases, but the addition of PETA stabilizes the BP-I phase. A PETA content above 3 wt% prevents the formation of the simple cubic BP-II phase and induces a direct transition from the isotropic to the BP-I phase. PETA widens the temperature window of BP-I from ~6.8 °C for BPLC without PETA to ~15 °C for BPLC with 4 wt% PETA. The BPLCs with 3 and 4 wt% PETA are stabilized using polymer networks via in situ photopolymerization. Polymer-stabilized BPLC with 3 wt% PETA showed switching between reflective to transparent states with response times of 400–500 μs when an AC field was applied, whereas the application of a DC field induced a large color change from green to red. MDPI 2021-12-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8746832/ /pubmed/35009998 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano12010048 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Lee, Kyung Min Tohgha, Urice Bunning, Timothy J. McConney, Michael E. Godman, Nicholas P. Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals |
title | Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals |
title_full | Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals |
title_fullStr | Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals |
title_full_unstemmed | Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals |
title_short | Effect of Amorphous Crosslinker on Phase Behavior and Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals |
title_sort | effect of amorphous crosslinker on phase behavior and electro-optic response of polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystals |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8746832/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35009998 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano12010048 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT leekyungmin effectofamorphouscrosslinkeronphasebehaviorandelectroopticresponseofpolymerstabilizedbluephaseliquidcrystals AT tohghaurice effectofamorphouscrosslinkeronphasebehaviorandelectroopticresponseofpolymerstabilizedbluephaseliquidcrystals AT bunningtimothyj effectofamorphouscrosslinkeronphasebehaviorandelectroopticresponseofpolymerstabilizedbluephaseliquidcrystals AT mcconneymichaele effectofamorphouscrosslinkeronphasebehaviorandelectroopticresponseofpolymerstabilizedbluephaseliquidcrystals AT godmannicholasp effectofamorphouscrosslinkeronphasebehaviorandelectroopticresponseofpolymerstabilizedbluephaseliquidcrystals |