Research

Engineering Tomorrow’s Flat-Panel Displays

 

Zhiqun Lin of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has devised a new and facile method to organize micrometer-sized liquid crystal domains into well-ordered structures. This technology will enable major improvements for the design of light shutters, flat-panel displays, and privacy windows by providing a new way to reduce device weight and improve device flexibility. The technology uses a polymer matrix that precludes the need to use disruptive photo-irradiation processes. The method induces structure formation of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals on a chemically patterned substrate, resulting in alternating liquid crystal-rich and polymer-rich phases (see figure).

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