Influence of macroinitiator's glass transition temperature on the response times of polymer dispersed liquid crystals

Glass transition temperature (T-g), an important parameter of polymer, was reported to have great influence on the electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs). In this study, macroinitiators with different T-g were synthesised by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerisation, and used to prepare PDLCs with different T-g block chains. The effect of different T-g of the block chains on response times was investigated. It was found that rise time decreased and decay time increased with the decrease of the block chain's T-g. We proposed a possible mechanism by which T-g of the block chains influence response times.