Agarwal Shikha, Srivastava Swastik, Joshi Suraj, Tripathi Shivangi, Singh Bhupendra Pratap, Pandey Kamal Kumar, Manohar Rajiv
Liquid Crystal Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226007, India.
Department of Electro-Optical Engineering, National United University, No. 2, Lien-Da, Miao-Li City, Miao-Li 360, Taiwan.
ACS Mater Au. 2024 Nov 27;5(1):88-114. doi: 10.1021/acsmaterialsau.4c00122. eCollection 2025 Jan 8.
Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) stand at the intersection of polymer science and liquid crystal technology, offering a unique blend of optical versatility and mechanical durability. These composite materials are composed of droplets of liquid crystals interspersed in a matrix of polymeric materials, harnessing the optical properties of liquid crystals while benefiting from the structural integrity of polymers. The responsiveness of LCs combined with the mechanical rigidity of polymers make polymer/LC composites-where the polymer network or matrix is used to stabilize and modify the LC phase-extremely important for scientists developing novel adaptive optical devices. PDLCs have garnered significant attention due to their ability to modulate light transmission properties, making them ideal candidates for applications ranging from smart windows and displays to light shutters and privacy filters. The incorporation of different ferroelectric, thermoelectric, magnetic, and ferromagnetic nanoparticles, quantum dots, nanorods, and a variety of dyes in the PDLC matrix has gained momentum over a span of few decades, as it lowers the otherwise-required high operating voltage and reduces the electro-optical response time of these devices. Due to better contrast in the transmittance of these materials in the field-off and on states, they find extensively wide application in a variety of photonic applications, viz., optical shutters and smart windows, photorefractives, modern displays, microlens arrays encompassing polymer-gravel lenses, and many other. Since the functional parameters of these devices embrace the thermophysical attributes of PDLC networks, it therefore becomes necessary to perform a detailed analysis of the properties of PDLCs and their ameliorations upon the addition of different dopants. This Review aims to review the recent advances in PDLCs and their enrichment in terms of their performance parameters upon the addition of a variety of dopants, as well as the improvement of different photonic applications owing to superior parametric implementation of these networks.
聚合物分散液晶（PDLC）处于聚合物科学与液晶技术的交叉点，兼具独特的光学多功能性和机械耐久性。这些复合材料由散布在聚合物材料基质中的液晶液滴组成，利用了液晶的光学特性，同时受益于聚合物的结构完整性。液晶的响应性与聚合物的机械刚性相结合，使得聚合物/液晶复合材料（其中聚合物网络或基质用于稳定和修饰液晶相）对于开发新型自适应光学器件的科学家来说极为重要。PDLC因其能够调节光传输特性而备受关注，使其成为从智能窗户和显示器到光快门和隐私过滤器等各种应用的理想候选材料。在过去几十年中，在PDLC基质中掺入不同的铁电、热电、磁性和铁磁纳米颗粒、量子点、纳米棒以及各种染料的做法越来越普遍，因为这降低了原本所需的高工作电压，并缩短了这些器件的电光响应时间。由于这些材料在关断和开启状态下透射率的对比度更高，它们在各种光子应用中得到了广泛应用，即光学快门和智能窗户、光折变材料、现代显示器、包括聚合物砾石透镜的微透镜阵列等等。由于这些器件的功能参数包含PDLC网络的热物理属性，因此有必要对PDLC的特性及其在添加不同掺杂剂后的改善情况进行详细分析。本综述旨在回顾PDLC的最新进展，以及在添加各种掺杂剂后其性能参数方面的提升，以及由于这些网络卓越的参数实施而对不同光子应用的改进。
