The effect of mono-sized liquid crystal domains on electro-optical properties in a polymer dispersed liquid crystal prepared by using monodisperse poly(methylmethacrylate)/liquid crystal microcapsules

Highly mono-sized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/liquid crystal (LC) microcapsules having a mono-sized single LC domain were prepared by the solute codiffusion method and solvent evaporation. The size of the LC domain in the microcapsules could be controlled by the amount of LC introduced during the swelling stage. The electro-optical properties of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) prepared by using the microcapsules was highly improved. In particular, the threshold voltage was lowered and the switching behaviour with an applied electric field was sharpened drastically compared with PDLC prepared simply by solvent evaporation-induced phase separation.