Nematic liquid crystalline alignment on graphitic carbon film surfaces and its electrooptical characteristics

A graphitic carbon (g-C) film directly grown on a synthetic quartz glass substrate was applied to a liquid crystal (LC) device as an alignment layer combined with a transparent electrode for a demonstration of high performance. The as-grown g-C films showed a nanometer-size domain with 91.6% transmittance at 550 nm and with a sheet resistance of 5.9 kΩ/sq. The nanodomain of the g-C film surface was associated with a random orientation of the twisted nematic LC (4-pentyl-4'-n-cyanobiphenyl, 5CB) molecules in an in-plane randomly parallel alignment that was analyzed by polarized optical microscopy (POM). We also demonstrated an LC display (LCD) in an in-plane random hybrid twisted nematic (IPR-HTN) configuration using the g-C films compared with a previously proposed configuration using a hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) sublayer and a TN configuration using a polyimide film with a rubbing treatment. It was found that the combined g-C alignment layer/electrode provides a low turn-on voltage, a fast response, and a wide viewing angle as an orientation sublayer and an electrode.