Polymer-liquid crystal composites doped by inorganic oxide nanopowders

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of nanoscale additives on electro-optical properties of films of polymer-liquid crystal composites (PLCC). It has been shown that the nanoparticles doping in the polymer matrix leads to a change in the parameters of the film produced therefrom, in particular, the coefficient of refraction and the dielectric constant. The absence of a chemical interaction between the nanoparticles and droplets of liquid crystals (LCs) was noted. The dependence of the light transmission of the composition on the nanoparticles size and their concentration were obtained. It is noted that the presence of ionic impurities in silica distorted the photosignal shape and degraded the relaxation time. It is shown that the nanopowders decreased the threshold voltage of LC reordering and reduced the LC response time at both threshold levels and at the saturation level of the control field. This shows the good potency of nanomodifiers in the PLCC.