Flexible bistable polymer stabilised cholesteric texture light shutter display

Bistable cholesteric liquid crystal displays meet various needs such as energy saving, long image storage time, and no backlight; however, their dense polymer network affects the electro-optical performance. In this work, polymer-stabilised cholesteric texture (PSCT) films with polymer spacer columns were prepared by two-step polymerisation using photomask. The effects of crosslinker content and mask polymerisation time on the morphology of the polymer spacer columns and the optoelectronic properties of the PSCT films were investigated. The results suggested that the film showed bistable performance and the formation of polymer spacer columns helped to optimize the contrast ratio of the sample without sacrificing response time. The cyclic experiment indicated that the optimized bistable PSCT film showed good stability. The adhesion strength of the PSCT film to the substrate was essentially the same as that of commercial PDLC. The simple operability and reusability of the process method make it a practical solution for the preparation of bistable PSCT films.