Abstract
It is well known that doping liquid crystals (LCs) with nanoparticles can readily change the physical and electro-optical properties of LC mixture. In this paper, we report on how the electro-optical properties and thermal stability of an LC system were enhanced by dispersing zirconia (ZrO 2) nanoparticles in nematic LCs on ion-beam irradiated polyimide layers. Homogeneous LC alignment was achieved and ZrO 2/LC mixture was applied in twisted-nematic (TN) mode. The addition of ZrO 2 nanoparticles contributed to improvement of electro-optical properties in the TN LC cell by lowering voltage operation and decreasing response time. The TN LC cells with a ZrO 2 nanoparticle concentration of 2.0 wt% showed the lowest threshold voltage of 2.0 V and the fastest response time of 15.3 ms. This enhanced electro-optical performance was likely due to van-der waals interactions and the screening effect of the ZrO 2 nanoparticles in the LC medium. The thermal stability of the ZrO 2/LC mixture was also improved compared to a pristine LC system.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5587-5591 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 Jul |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Bioengineering
- Chemistry(all)
- Biomedical Engineering
- Materials Science(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics