Liquid Crystal Materials and Devices

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Liquid Crystals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 May 2025 | Viewed by 3669

Special Issue Editors

Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: optics; VR; AR; liquid crystal
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College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Interests: liquid crystal; optical modulation; photoalignment

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Guest Editor
National Engineering Lab for TFT-LCD Materials and Technologies, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: liquid crystal; filter; spatial light modulation

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Guest Editor
College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Interests: liquid crystals; AR/VR/MR displays
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Liquid crystals (LCs) are materials that exhibit properties of isotropic liquids and solids. Since the discovery of LCs in the second half of the 19th century, LC devices have been applied in many applications, especially in the field of optoelectronics, because of these unique optical properties. A variety of phases may be exhibited, such as smectic, nematic, blue, and cholesteric. Owing to the mobility of molecules, LCs are highly responsive to external stimuli (electric fields, magnetic fields, heat, light, etc.) and are widely used in flat-panel displays, optical filters, optical lenses, smart windows, spatial light modulator, and vortex light generation and more. As LC technologies have developed enormously over the past few decades, they have come to dominate many display markets such as LC phone products, notebook computer displays, AR/VR displays, and desktop monitors and a variety of fields including medical testing, green buildings, energy conversion, life and health, autonomous driving, and space technology. LC applications have changed our lives. Despite the rapid development of this technology, the exploration and discovery of new possibilities in this field continue to inspire growth and innovation; novel LC materials, LC phase states, arrangement structures, and advanced LC devices continue to emerge. In this Special Issue, “Liquid crystal materials and liquid crystal devices”, we intend to focus on high-quality and high-performance LC materials and devices to collect papers on both display and non-display applications.

Dr. Shuxin Liu
Dr. Quanming Chen
Dr. Changli Sun
Dr. Kun Yin
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 1708 KiB  
Article
Electrowetting and Surface Tension of Chromonic Liquid Crystals
by Filippo Marinello, Davide Ferraro, Alessio Meggiolaro, Sebastian Cremaschini, Annamaria Zaltron, Matteo Pierno, Giampaolo Mistura, Giuliano Zanchetta and Liana Lucchetti
Crystals 2024, 14(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14010001 - 19 Dec 2023
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Abstract
In this work, we report on measurements of the contact angle of sessile droplets of aqueous solutions of a chromonic liquid crystal at different temperatures and concentrations and on different hydrophobic surfaces, and we show that the wettability of this complex fluid can [...] Read more.
In this work, we report on measurements of the contact angle of sessile droplets of aqueous solutions of a chromonic liquid crystal at different temperatures and concentrations and on different hydrophobic surfaces, and we show that the wettability of this complex fluid can be easily controlled by an external electric field. Specifically, electrically induced variations of the contact angle up to 70° were obtained using external DC voltages. Complementary tensiometric measurements of the aqueous solutions confirmed that the observed variations in the contact angle were mainly related to variations in the surface tension, while they did not show an evident connection with the internal molecular order of the liquid crystal droplets. Our study is relevant in view of the use of chromonic liquid crystals in microfluidic devices, where the control of wettability is an important tool for handling fluid flow. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liquid Crystal Materials and Devices)
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Review

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17 pages, 9453 KiB  
Review
Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets
by Le Zhou, Tingjun Zhong, Huihui Wang, Ke Xu, Pouya Nosratkhah and Kristiaan Neyts
Crystals 2024, 14(11), 934; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14110934 - 29 Oct 2024
Viewed by 656
Abstract
Liquid crystal (LC) droplets are highly attractive for applications in privacy windows, optical switches, optical vortices, optical microresonators, microlenses, and biosensors due to their ease of fabrication and easy alignment at surfaces. This review presents the latest advancements in LC droplets, which have [...] Read more.
Liquid crystal (LC) droplets are highly attractive for applications in privacy windows, optical switches, optical vortices, optical microresonators, microlenses, and biosensors due to their ease of fabrication and easy alignment at surfaces. This review presents the latest advancements in LC droplets, which have nematic, chiral nematic, and twist–bend nematic and ferroelectric nematic phases, or blue phases. Finally, it discusses the challenges and opportunities for applications based on LC droplets. The main challenges encompass the precise control of internal structures and defects to meet diverse application requirements, enhancing stability and durability across various environments, reducing large-scale production costs to improve commercial feasibility, increasing response speeds to external stimuli to adapt to rapidly changing scenarios, and developing tunable LC droplets to achieve broader functionalities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liquid Crystal Materials and Devices)
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14 pages, 4769 KiB  
Review
Reversible Crosslinking of LC-Materials by Gel-Formation
by Rudolf Zentel
Crystals 2024, 14(5), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14050466 - 16 May 2024
Viewed by 960
Abstract
The topic of this review is the physical gelling of liquid crystalline (LC) phases. It allows the combination of order and mobility of the LC-phase with macroscopic stability, which makes it a soft material. Thus, the gelled LCs acquire properties of LC-elastomers without [...] Read more.
The topic of this review is the physical gelling of liquid crystalline (LC) phases. It allows the combination of order and mobility of the LC-phase with macroscopic stability, which makes it a soft material. Thus, the gelled LCs acquire properties of LC-elastomers without the need for complicated chemistry to allow polymerization and crosslinking. But, instead, an LC-material (either a pure compound or a mixture) can be mixed with a few percent of a gel-forming agent, which self-assembles into long fibers that span the volume of the gel and make it a soft-solid. The use of azo-containing gel-forming agents thereby allows us to make gelation not only thermo-responsive, but also photo-responsive (trans-cis isomerization). This review discusses the micro-morphology of the gelled LCs and their influence on the mechanical properties and the switching in external electric fields. In addition, the potential of reversibility is discussed, which is not only interesting for recycling purposes, but also offers a route to inscribe a complex director pattern into the gelled liquid crystal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Liquid Crystal Materials and Devices)
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