A bistable light shutter based on polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals

In this paper, a bistable light shutter that can sustain both transparent and opaque states without applied voltage was fabricated based on the polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals (PSCLCs) with negative dielectric anisotropy. By applying a high-frequency or low-frequency electric pulse, the two stable states could be switched into each other. Moreover, the role of polymer concentration and chiral pitch was also investigated. It was found that they could affect the polymer micromorphology and further influence the bistable properties and trans-mission spectrum. Finally, an optimized precuring formula with 3 wt% of polymerizing monomer and 5 wt% of chiral dopant was applied to prepare a light shutter, which showed good bistability and optically shielding properties. Accordingly, the light shutter was highly energy efficient.