An investigation into the morphology and electro-optical properties of 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate polymer dispersed liquid crystals

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films are fabricated using E7 liquid crystals, tetraethylene glycol diacrylate (TeGDA) crosslinking agent, and 0–66.49 mol % 2‐hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA). The effects of different levels of HEMA addition on the microstructure and electro‐optical properties of the PDLC samples are examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and UV‐Vis spectroscopy, respectively. The results show that the refractive index of the PDLC films is insensitive to the level of HEMA addition. However, an increasing HEMA content improves the degree of phase separation during the polymerization process and increases the size and uniformity of the liquid crystal domain. As a result, the electro‐optical properties of the PDLC films are significantly improved as the level of HEMA addition is increased. Overall, the results show that a PDLC comprising 40 wt % E7 liquid crystals, 33.51 mol % TeGDA and 66.49 mol % HEMA has a high contrast ratio (13 : 1) and a low driving voltage (10 V) and is therefore an ideal candidate for a wide variety of intelligent photoelectric applications. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010