Acrylate polymer-dispersed liquid crystal material and device made therefrom

摘要

A composite material includes droplets of a liquid crystal material dispersed within a matrix of a photopolymerized polymer. The material is prepared by forming a solution of the liquid crystal material and a monomer, and then polymerizing the monomer with light. The solubility of the liquid crystal material in the polymer is less than in the monomer. As polymerization progresses, a portion of the liquid crystal material separates as a second phase in the polymer matrix. The liquid crystal can be any suitable such material that is soluble in the monomer and less so in the polymer, and the monomer is a polymerizable acrylate or methacrylate. Liquid crystal devices are prepared by forming the composite material between two electrically conducting substrates.