Tailoring switching properties of dipolar species in ferroelectric liquid crystal with ZnO nanoparticles

The capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) cells doped with zinc oxide nanocrystals (nc-ZnO) have been studied and fitted to the Preisach model to reveal the behaviours of dipolar species. To explain the experimental results, we propose a physical picture depicting an interaction of nc-ZnO dipole with surrounding SSFLC dipolar species. Our study shows that doping nc-ZnO into FLC not only increases the contrast ratio of the cells by 10 times but also enhances the dynamic polarization of the beneficial dipolar species while minimizing the polarization response of the species with counter effects.