Electro-optic properties of aligned polysiloxane dispersed ferroelectric liquid crystal composite thin films

Thin polymer dispersed ferroelectric liquid crystal (PDFLC) composite films were prepared using polydimethyl siloxanes of different viscosity grades and ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture (ZLI-3654) using solvent induced phase separation (SIPS) and polymer induced phase separation (PIPS) techniques simultaneously. ectro-optic properties of these films in aligned and unaligned configurations were measured. A comparison indicates that the performance of aligned PDFLCs is better over that of the unaligned films. Structure–property correlation in these materials have been studied and explained on the basis of the viscosity of the polysiloxane matrix. These materials are found to be promising for flexible liquid crystal display devices.