TY - JOUR
T1 - Optical microscopic observation of morphology in liquid crystal/polymer composites and their electro-optical properties
AU - Niiyama, Satoshi
AU - Kikuchi, Hirotsugu
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/8/1
Y1 - 2013/8/1
N2 - We have discovered that bicyclohexyl is suitable for extracting liquid crystals from liquid crystal/polymer composites consisting of a continuous phase of nematic liquid crystal and a three-dimensional polymer network. It was confirmed in optical microscopic observation for the morphology of composites that a polymer structure, observed after extraction of liquid crystals from composites by bicyclohexyl, accorded well with the structure observed by a non-destructive method at a higher temperature than the nematic-isotropic transition point of the liquid crystal. The relationship between the polymer structure in the composite which was evaluated by the non-destructive method and the condition of phase separation induced by photo-polymerization was closely investigated from an aspect of a phase diagram and the speed of phase separation controlled by the intensity of irradiation by UV light. The electro-optical characteristics of the liquid crystal/polymer composite cells were found to be strongly affected by the polymer structure, especially the pore size of the three-dimensional network, which was especially sensitive to the intensity of UV light.
AB - We have discovered that bicyclohexyl is suitable for extracting liquid crystals from liquid crystal/polymer composites consisting of a continuous phase of nematic liquid crystal and a three-dimensional polymer network. It was confirmed in optical microscopic observation for the morphology of composites that a polymer structure, observed after extraction of liquid crystals from composites by bicyclohexyl, accorded well with the structure observed by a non-destructive method at a higher temperature than the nematic-isotropic transition point of the liquid crystal. The relationship between the polymer structure in the composite which was evaluated by the non-destructive method and the condition of phase separation induced by photo-polymerization was closely investigated from an aspect of a phase diagram and the speed of phase separation controlled by the intensity of irradiation by UV light. The electro-optical characteristics of the liquid crystal/polymer composite cells were found to be strongly affected by the polymer structure, especially the pore size of the three-dimensional network, which was especially sensitive to the intensity of UV light.
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U2 - 10.1080/15421406.2013.778116
DO - 10.1080/15421406.2013.778116
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84880410634
VL - 577
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals
JF - Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals
SN - 1542-1406
IS - 1
ER -