Tuning of polymer-wall surface components and its effect on the optoelectronic performance of liquid crystal devices with polymer walls.

In this study, surface initiation was used to form dense and flat films in liquid crystal media. As a result, low-surface-energy components are thermodynamically forced to segregate on the liquid crystal-polymer interface already during the polymerization process. This finding is confirmed by ATR and XPS. In addition, more low-surface-energy components accumulate on the wall surface of the polymer upon decreasing the UV light intensity during polymerization. These components reduce both the anchoring energy of the polymer wall as well as the threshold voltage of any liquid crystal device that uses this polymer wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]