An electrically light-transmittance-controllable film with a low-driving voltage from a coexistent system of polymer-dispersed and polymer-stabilised cholesteric liquid crystals

Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films have been successfully applied in the field of smart windows, building partitions and projection screens. However, the high-driving voltage of the state-of-the-art PDLC films not only results in serious security problems but also leads to huge energy consumptions. Although studied for decades, however, no tangible improvements of reducing the driving voltage have been achieved due to the movements liquid crystals (LCs) are greatly confined by the porous polymer structures of PDLCs. In this paper, an electrically light-transmittance-controllable film with an unprecedented low-driving voltage (more than 50% lower than that of the typical PDLC films) was prepared from a new polymer dispersed and stabilised cholesteric LC system. Also, the effects of the amounts of chiral dopants on the electro-optical properties were studied.