Facet-dependent electro-optical properties of cholesteric liquid crystals doped with Cu2O nanocrystals  

作　　者：Dongyu Zhao Lihong Xu Yang Shang Xiaoxia Li Lin Guo 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory of Bio-lnspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China [2]Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics, Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China

出　　处：《Nano Research》2018年第9期4836-4845,共10页纳米研究（英文版）

摘　　要：Excellent electro-optical （E-O） performances are essential for high-quality reflective cholesteric liquid crystal （LC） displays, but are often limited by the high driving voltages required by these displays. Dispersing functional nanomaterials into the LCs has emerged as a promising approach to achieve outstanding E-O properties. In this work, we report the facet-controlled E-O properties of a chiral nematic LC （N＊LC） doped with cubic, octahedral, and rhornbic dodecahedral Cu20. The outstanding E-O properties of the doped systems are related to the interaction between the liquid crystals and Cu20 dopants with different exposed crystal planes. Doping with octahedral and rhombic dodecahedral Cu20 reduces the stability of the planar state, as a result of both the surface abundance of active Cu atoms that interact with the polarized LC molecules, and the large amounts of vertexes and edges on the crystal surfaces, which accelerate the transition from the planar to the focal conic state under an applied electric field. Rhombic Cu20 is the most effective dopant for improving the E-O properties of the present LCs, resulting in a 65.31% reduction of the threshold voltage. The facet and morphology effects highlighted in this work provide a new pathway to develop excellent energy-saving meso-materials with exposed high-reactivity facets, improving their potential applications in electro-optical technologies and information displays.Excellent electro-optical （E-O） performances are essential for high-quality reflective cholesteric liquid crystal （LC） displays, but are often limited by the high driving voltages required by these displays. Dispersing functional nanomaterials into the LCs has emerged as a promising approach to achieve outstanding E-O properties. In this work, we report the facet-controlled E-O properties of a chiral nematic LC （N＊LC） doped with cubic, octahedral, and rhornbic dodecahedral Cu20. The outstanding E-O properties of the doped systems are related to the interaction between the liquid crystals and Cu20 dopants with different exposed crystal planes. Doping with octahedral and rhombic dodecahedral Cu20 reduces the stability of the planar state, as a result of both the surface abundance of active Cu atoms that interact with the polarized LC molecules, and the large amounts of vertexes and edges on the crystal surfaces, which accelerate the transition from the planar to the focal conic state under an applied electric field. Rhombic Cu20 is the most effective dopant for improving the E-O properties of the present LCs, resulting in a 65.31% reduction of the threshold voltage. The facet and morphology effects highlighted in this work provide a new pathway to develop excellent energy-saving meso-materials with exposed high-reactivity facets, improving their potential applications in electro-optical technologies and information displays.

关 键 词：Cu2O nanocrystals liquid crystals electro-optical properties host-guest systems facet-dependence 

分 类 号：O1[理学—数学]