Monodispersed spherelike nanoparticles (MNP) of Sb2O5 with sizes of 7–11 nm are used as filler for the nematic liquid crystal (LC) E7. The insertion of Sb2O5 particles in the LC leads to a drastic increase of light scattering, which can be controlled by an external electric field. The electrooptic properties of both undoped and polymer stabilized “E7-Sb2O5” composites are studied. While the “Sb2O5-E7” suspensions suffer from phase separation, the corresponding polymer stabilized samples are stable and operable. On the other hand, compared with “E7-Polymer” compounds, the “E7-Sb2O5-Polymer” composites possess substantially improved electro-optic performance, for instance, enhanced contrast and faster operation times. Owing to this, “LC-MNP-Polymer” composites are suggested as advanced materials for LC devices operating in light scattering mode. The morphology and light scattering mechanisms of “LC-MNP-Polymer” samples are discussed.
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Dolgov et al. (2004) studied this question.