Study on anchoring strength and droplet morphology of cnts doped polymer dispersed liquid crystal

Abstract

In the present report, polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) doped PDLC were prepared taking equal wt/wt % ratio of nematic liquid crystal (LC) and UV curable polymer. CNTs of 0.125 wt% were taken as a dopant. Experimental results are mainly focused on the surface anchoring strength and droplet morphology which indirectly effects to the electro optic (EO) characteristics of PDLCs. As a result, the anchoring strength was found much lower for doped PDLC compared with pristine PDLC. Moreover, the PDLC with lesser anchoring strength impound the larger droplet size of LC and shows of almost ? 4 times in CNTs doped PDLCs than the pristine PDLC. Also, lowered anchoring energy for CNTs doped PDLC was found supportive to minimize the applied voltages.