Electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal prepared by successively controlled living radical polymerization

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films were obtained by successive controlled living radical polymerizations: starting polystyrene (M1) was obtained by reversible addition‐fragmentation polymerization (RAFT), M1 was converted to P‐chloromethylated polystyrene (M2) which was grafted with polystyrene branches by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) to yield RAFT‐initiating graft polymer containing trithiocarbonate moieties in the backbone (M3, RAFT‐active grafted polystyrene), and then PDLC films were prepared by photo‐induced RAFT copolymerization of methyl acrylate with M3 in the presence of a nematic liquid crystal. The electro‐optical properties of the films were investigated for the purpose to apply them to optical devices. Experimental results showed that preferable properties could be acquired by controlling the amount of M3 and the liquid crystal E7 in the polymer matrix of PDLC films. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers