Improvement in device performance from a mixture of a liquid crystal and photosensitive acrylic prepolymer with the photoinduced vertical alignment method

Abstract

In a multicomponent nematic liquid crystal (NLC) mixture of a liquid crystal (negative-type NLC) and a photosensitive acrylic prepolymer, photopolymerization upon UV irradiation induces the separation of the LC and photosensitive acrylic prepolymer layers, thereby leading to a vertical arrangement of LC molecules. In this study, we propose a simple vertical alignment method for LC molecules, by adding a chiral smectic A (SmA?) liquid crystal having homeotropic texture characteristics to an NLC mixture solution. Measurements of electro-optical properties revealed that the addition of the SmA? LC not only strengthened the anchoring force of the copolymer alignment film surface, but also significantly enhanced the contrast ratio (～73%), response time and grayscale switching performance of the device.     

Fullerene-containing liquid crystal spatiotemporal light modulators with surface-electromagnetic-wave-treated conducting layers

We have studied the switching characteristics of multilayer electrooptical structures comprising quartz substrates, transparent conducting layers, and an oriented nematic liquid crystal (NLC) film doped with photosensitive charge-transfer complexes based on electrooptically active organic monomer or polymer molecules and fullerenes. The transparent conducting layers treated with surface electromagnetic waves are used for the orientation of NLC molecules. The surface relief with variable permittivity, which is created by this treatment, not only ensures the alignment of NLC molecules, but also significantly influences the relaxation times of the electrooptical mesophase, thus making possible effective control over the switching times of the electrooptical light modulator within 1–1.5 ms.     

Investigation of the liquid crystal alignment layer: effect on electrical properties

Abstract

We investigate the electrical behavior of a symmetric liquid crystal (LC) cell: elecrode-silane-LC-silane-electrode. The silane (chlorodimethyloctadecyl-silane) layer induces a homeotropic orientation of the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) molecules. The wettability technique is used to detect the change of the surface energy of the electrode upon cleaning and silane layer deposition. We report on the dynamic impedance measurements of the nematic liquid crystal cell. It is found that the silane alignment layer has a blocking effect on the liquid crystal (LC) cell. We also study the relaxation behavior of the cell which is later assimilated as an electrical equivalent circuit.     

Investigation of the liquid crystal alignment layer: effect on electrical properties

We investigate the electrical behavior of a symmetric liquid crystal (LC) cell: elecrode-silane-LC-silane-electrode. The silane (chlorodimethyloctadecyl-silane) layer induces a homeotropic orientation of the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) molecules. The wettability technique is used to detect the change of the surface energy of the electrode upon cleaning and silane layer deposition. We report on the dynamic impedance measurements of the nematic liquid crystal cell. It is found that the silane alignment layer has a blocking effect on the liquid crystal (LC) cell. We also study the relaxation behavior of the cell which is later assimilated as an electrical equivalent circuit.     

Effect of boundary conditions on phase modulation of light in a nematic liquid crystal featuring the S-effect

Phase modulation of light has been studied under the S-effect conditions in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) with a planar director alignment set by a layer of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H). It is demonstrated for the first time that the formation of an anisotropic surface relief on the electrode surface favors a more homogeneous alignment of liquid crystal molecules by the a-C:H layer and allows the maximum phase shift to be obtained at a certain thickness of the NLC layer.     

On the possibility of a homeotropic alignment in nematic liquid crystal elements using carbon nanotubes

The possibility of obtaining homeotropic orientation in thin-film nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cells using carbon nanotubes is briefly considered. The results of this investigation can be used to develop optical elements for displays with vertical orientations of NLC molecules (MVA-display technology).     

Nematic liquid crystal alignment on the ion beam-exposed ZnO film

This paper investigates the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) alignment on ion beam-exposed zinc oxide (ZnO) films. The ZnO films are deposited by a radio frequency magnetron sputtering. During the deposition of ZnO film, we supplied sufficient oxygen gas for high resistivity and transmittance. The deposited films show a high transmittance of over 90% and high resistivity of over 10¹⁰ Ω cm. The ZnO films show a high deposition rate of 26.7 Å/min. Images obtained via scanning electron microscopy of the ZnO film surfaces, before and after the ion beam exposure, show that groove patterns are formed being to be parallel to the ion beam exposure direction. LC cells are fabricated with the ion beam-exposed ZnO films. The NLC molecules align parallel to the ion beam exposure direction. The electro-optic and response characteristics of fabricated cells show the possibility of application to liquid crystal displays.     

水显影光固化材料的制备及其各组分对感光性能的影响

利用热塑性酚醛环氧树脂的环氧基，依次用丙烯酸及叔胺盐进行开环反应，合成了水溶性丙烯酸酯类感光高分子，将其配制成水显影光固化材料，并研究了叔胺盐的种类，不同光引发剂和光谱效剂以及稀释性单体对其感光性能的影响。     

Polyimide photo-alignment layers for inclined homeotropic alignment of liquid crystal molecules

We have succeeded in realizing an inclined homeotropic alignment of liquid crystal (LC) molecules by using photo-aligned films of a polyimide containing azobenzene in the backbone structure. To induce such an LC alignment, a side chain structure was introduced into the backbone structure. The LC pretilt angle, measured from the surface normal, could be controlled up to 1.75° by varying the light exposure in oblique angle irradiation with unpolarized light. Its thermal stability was examined by annealing the LC cell at 100 °C. No change was observed in the pretilt angle even after annealing for 36 h, indicative of its excellent thermal stability. Since photo-alignment has patterning capability, the photo-aligned polyimide film is expected as a promising alignment film for multi-domain vertical alignment mode LC displays.     

Surface alignment of liquid crystal multilayers evaporated on photoaligned polyimide film observed by surface profiler

The investigation of the surface alignment of liquid crystal (LC) multilayers evaporated on photoaligned polyimide vertical alignment (PI-VA) film was carried out by means of the novel three-dimensional (3D) surface profiler. We report the first use of the surface profiler to visualize a microscopic image of the monolayer arrangement of LC molecules in contact with the surface of photo-treated PI-VA film. The photoinduced anisotropy of partially UV-exposed PI-VA film can be visualized as a topological image of LC multilayers. It seems that the topology of LC multilayers is indicating the orientational distribution of LC molecules on the treated film. It was found that the periodically photoaligned PI-VA film surface can align an adsorbed LC monolayer and the LC molecular alignment can be extended to the bulk via the epitaxylike LC–LC interaction, i.e. a short-range molecular interaction. With regard to the unexposed PI-VA film surface, noticeable anisotropy in the monolayer alignment was not observed, indicating that the long-range elastic interaction may be responsible for the bulk alignment. The appearance of small droplets in the masked region may be presumably related to the dewetting phenomena.     

Surface alignment of liquid crystal multilayers evaporated on photoaligned polyimide film observed by surface profiler

The investigation of the surface alignment of liquid crystal (LC) multilayers evaporated on photoaligned polyimide vertical alignment (PI-VA) film was carried out by means of the novel three-dimensional (3D) surface profiler. We report the first use of the surface profiler to visualize a microscopic image of the monolayer arrangement of LC molecules in contact with the surface of photo-treated PI-VA film. The photoinduced anisotropy of partially UV-exposed PI-VA film can be visualized as a topological image of LC multilayers. It seems that the topology of LC multilayers is indicating the orientational distribution of LC molecules on the treated film. It was found that the periodically photoaligned PI-VA film surface can align an adsorbed LC monolayer and the LC molecular alignment can be extended to the bulk via the epitaxylike LC–LC interaction, i.e. a short-range molecular interaction. With regard to the unexposed PI-VA film surface, noticeable anisotropy in the monolayer alignment was not observed, indicating that the long-range elastic interaction may be responsible for the bulk alignment. The appearance of small droplets in the masked region may be presumably related to the dewetting phenomena.     

Selectivity of Threefold Symmetry in Epitaxial Alignment of Liquid Crystal Molecules on Macroscale Single‐Crystal Graphene

Epitaxial alignment of organic liquid crystal (LC) molecules on single‐crystal graphene (SCG), an effective epitaxial molecular assembly template, can be used in alignment‐layer‐free liquid crystal displays. However, selectivity among the threefold symmetric easy axes of LCs on graphene is not well understood, which limits its application. Here, sixfold symmetric radial LC domains are demonstrated by dropping an LC droplet on clean SCG, which reveals that the graphene surface does not have an intrinsic preferential direction. Instead, the first contact geometry of the LC molecules determines the direction. Despite its strong anchoring energy on graphene, the LC alignment direction is readily erasable and rewritable, contrary to previous understanding. In addition, the quality of the threefold symmetric alignment is sensitive to alien residue and graphene imperfections, which can be used to detect infinitesimal impurities or structural defects on the graphene. Based on this unique epitaxial behavior of LCs on SCG, an alignment‐layer‐free electro‐optical LC device and LC alignment duplication, which can result in practical graphene‐based flexible LC devices, are realized.     

Anomalous light transmission by nematic liquid crystal cells

Light transmission through nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cells with a planar alignment and various boundary conditions has been studied as a function of the bias voltage in the regimes of maximum transmittance and complete extinction. The phenomenon of anomalous light leakage in the regime of complete extinction has been observed in the NLC sells with alignment layers of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), in which an anisotropy was induced by rubbing the electrode surface (for a-C:H) and the alignment layer (for PVA). The anomalous transmission is caused by the deformation of nematic molecules, which are situated near the surface, in the direction perpendicular to the direction of rubbing. The magnitude of anomalous transmission increases with the bias voltage. This behavior is explained by the anisotropy of the surface anchoring energy of nematic molecules at the interface.     

Prospects of the use of fullerenes for the orientation of liquid-crystalline compositions

The dynamic characteristics of liquid crystal (LC) structures containing fullerenes C₆₀ and C₇₀ were studied, and the effect of fullerenes on the reorientation capacity of liquid crystal molecules was assessed. It is established that fullerenes C₆₀ and C₇₀ influence the operation time of polymer-dispersed LC cells containing photosensitive 2-cyclooctylamine-5-nitropyridine molecules. A possible mechanism of reorientation in the system is considered, and it is shown that fullerenes can provide for effective switching of the electrooptical response in such LC cells. Fullerenes have good prospects for use in orienting coatings of various types employed in the LC technology.     

Homogeneously aligned liquid crystal display on silicon oxynitride thin film using ion beam bombardment

This paper introduces the homogeneously aligned liquid crystal (LC) display using ion beam (IB) bombardment of a new silicon oxynitride (SiON) alignment layer for the first time. The pretilt angle was shown to be a function of the IB incident energy, and possible mechanisms of LC alignment were investigated with physical and chemical methods. An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that the LC alignment on the IB-bombarded SiON inorganic surface was due to the reformation of Si–O bonds as a major factor. The electro-optical characteristics were comparable to those of rubbed polyimide films.     

Double sine-Gordon solitons in nematic liquid crystals under applied electric and magnetic fields

In this paper, we derive the dynamic equation of molecular motion for a twisted nematic liquid crystal (NLC) under applied electric and magnetic fields, and show that it takes the form of a double sine-Gordon (DSG) equation. Two kink and anti-kink solitary solutions of the liquid crystal molecules are obtained by using the F-expansion method to solve the DSG equation. Finally, we confirm that the twist of the NLC molecules can propagate in the form of solitary waves. The propagation velocity and amplitude of the kink and anti-kink solitons induced by the electric and magnetic fields are discussed.     

Electrically controlled fluorescence in a nematic liquid crystal doped by a chiral fluorophore

We have discovered a strong electric field sensitivity of the fluorescence intensity while studying the diffusion processes of a chiral fluorescent molecule (CFM) in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) host. The experimental and theoretical study of this phenomenon indicates that the alignment of the CFM along two privileged orientation directions (with asymmetric distribution with respect to the NLC’s optical axis) is in the origin of this phenomenon. As a result, the obtained guest–host system demonstrates noticeable dichroism. Thus, the application of an electric field allows the reorientation of the anisotropy axis of the host, the change of CFM’s absorption (at the wavelength of excitation) and the dynamic electric control of its fluorescence intensity. The study of these phenomena allows also the identification of the angular distribution of guest CFMs suggesting that the elastic energy of orientation of the host molecules might be in the origin of the asymmetric angular distribution of CFM.     

Polymer‐Stabilized Micropixelated Liquid Crystals with Tunable Optical Properties Fabricated by Double Templating

Self‐organized nano‐ and microstructures of soft materials are attracting considerable attention because most of them are stimuli‐responsive due to their soft nature. In this regard, topological defects in liquid crystals (LCs) are promising not only for self‐assembling colloids and molecules but also for electro‐optical applications such as optical vortex generation. However, there are currently few bottom‐up methods for patterning a large number of defects periodically over a large area. It would be highly desirable to develop more effective techniques for high‐throughput and low‐cost fabrication. Here, a micropixelated LC structure consisting of a square array of topological defects is stabilized by photopolymerization. A polymer network is formed on the structure of a self‐organized template of a nematic liquid crystal (NLC), and this in turn imprints other nonpolymerizable NLC molecules, which maintains their responses to electric field and temperature. Photocuring of specific local regions is used to create a designable template for the reproducible self‐organization of defects. Moreover, a highly diluted polymer network (≈0.1 wt% monomer) exhibits instant on–off switching of the patterns. Beyond the mere stabilization of patterns, these results demonstrate that the incorporation of self‐organized NLC patterns offers some unique and unconventional applications for anisotropic polymer networks.     

对氟肉桂酸丙烯醇酯接枝聚硅氧烷的光致取向研究

采用一种简单的方法合成了一种新型的光致取向材料－对氟肉桂酸内烯醇酯接枝聚桂氧烷,通过线性偏振光聚合（LPP）的方法制备了聚同良好的液晶取向膜并研究了膜厚度,液晶材料,烘烤温度和时间,曝光强度和时间对取向的影响,结果表明这是一种热稳定性很好的高光敏取向材料。     

Asymmetric Fullerene Nanosurfactant: Interface Engineering for Automatic Molecular Alignments

Since the molecular self‐assembly of nanomaterials is sensitive to their surface properties, the molecular packing structure on the surface is essential to build the desired chemical and physical properties of nanomaterials. Here, a new nanosurfactant is proposed for the automatic construction of macroscopic surface alignment layer for liquid crystal (LC) molecules. An asymmetric nanosurfactant (C₆₀NS) consisted of mesogenic cyanobiphenyl moieties with flexible alkyl chains and a [60]fullerene nanoatom is newly designed and precisely synthesized. The C₆₀NS directly introduced in the anisotropic LC medium is self‐assembled into the monolayered protrusions on the surface because of its amphiphilic nature originated by asymmetrically programmed structural motif of LC‐favoring moieties and LC‐repelling groups. The monolayered protrusions constructed by the phase‐separation and self‐assembly of asymmetric C₆₀NS nanosurfactant in the anisotropic LC media amplify and transfer the molecular orientational order from surface to bulk, and finally create the automatic vertical molecular alignment on the macroscopic length scale. The asymmetric C₆₀NS nanosurfactant and its self‐assembly described herein can offer the direct guideline of interface engineering for the automatic molecular alignments.