Modulation of electro-optical properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals by multi-walled carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposite fibres

ABSTRACTABSTRACTIn this article, polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films were prepared from a mixture of prepolymer, liquid crystal and reticular nanofibre films containing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) by the polymerisation-induced phase separation (PIPS) method. By comparing the microstructure and electro-optical profiles of different contents of liquid crystals as well as monomer types, it was demonstrated that the pore size pairs of the polymer network can modify the electro-optical properties of PDLC. Different types of loaded multi-walled carbon nanotube reticular nanofibre films were introduced into the liquid crystal mixture specimens and the altered polymer network and electro-optical properties of these specimens were analysed using SEM, POM, TEM, and electro-optical curves. It was found that the electro-optical properties of PDLC were greatly improved and the resistance to ageing was also greatly enhanced by mesh nanofibre films doped with a certain amount of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Therefore, the development of PDLC doped with loaded MWCNT reticular nanofibre films with faster response times and better electro-optical properties will greatly improve the promising technological applications of PDLC-based devices for optical windows, displays, energy storage and flexible devices.GRAPHICAL ABSTRACTKEYWORDS: Polymer-dispersed liquid crystalselectrostatic spinningnanofibre dopingmulti-walled carbon nanotubeselectro-optical performance AcknowledgmentsThe authors also thanks Dr. Yuzhen Zhao, Dr. Zemin He and Dr. Huimin Zhang of Xijing University for their help in the experimental operation involved in this work.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [No. 2022YFB3603703], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 2022YFB3603703)], [], and the Qinchuangyuan High-level Talent Project of Shaanxi [No. QCYRCXM-2022-219].