Polymer-stabilized pretilt angle on the surface of nanoparticle-induced vertical-alignment surface for multi-domain vertical-alignment liquid-crystal display

By introducing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanoparticles along with a controlled amount of UV-curable reactive mesogen (RM) into a liquid-crystalline (LC) medium, a multi-domain vertical-alignment LC device was successfully demonstrated. The device, possessing a vertically aligned LC director in four different azimuthal directions, exhibited a fast response time and wide-viewing-angle characteristics, in the absence of conventional polymer-type vertical-alignment layers. Electro-optic characteristics of the fabricated device, before and after UV curing of the cell, were studied. The surface morphology of the substrate surfaces were analyzed by using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The experimental results show that the technology will possibly be applicable to cost-effective vertical-alignment liquid-crystal devices and is suitable for green-technology liquid-crystal displays.