Thiol-ene reaction based polymer dispersed liquid crystal composite films with low driving voltage and high contrast ratio

In this study, polymer dispersed liquid crystal composite films are obtained via a one-step fabrication technique based on photo-initiated polymerization-induced phase separation in a thiol-vinyl ether reaction. The effects of the compositions of two vinyl monomers, curing light intensity, curing light time, liquid crystal content and thiol content on the electro-optic properties of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal films were systematically investigated. It was demonstrated that a composite film with a low driving voltage (33.7 V), high contrast ratio (228.1) and short response time (<5.0 ms) was achieved. This is of great significance for the potential applications of polymer dispersed liquid crystal composite films.