Reverse Mode Polymer Stabilized Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Flexible Films with Excellent Bending Resistance

Abstract

The reverse-mode smart windows, which usually fabricated by polymer stabilized liquid crystal (PSLC), are more practical for scenarios where high transparency is a priority for most of the time. However, the polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal (PSCLC) film exhibits poor spacing stability due to the mobility of CLC molecules during the bending deformation. In this work, a reverse-mode PSCLC flexible film with excellent bending resistance was fabricated by the construction of polymer spacer columns. The effect of the concentration of the polymerizable monomer C6M and chiral dopant R811 on the electro-optical properties and polymer microstructure of the film were studied. The sample B2 containing 3 wt% of C6M and 3 wt% R811 presented the best electro-optical performance. The electrical switch between transparent and opaque state of the flexible PSCLC film after bending not only indicated the excellent electro-optical switching performance, but also demonstrated the outstanding bending resistance of the sample with polymer spacer columns, which makes the PSCLC film containing polymer spacer columns have a great potential to be applied in the field of flexible devices.