All-organic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal light-valves integrated with electroactive anthraquinone-2-sulfonate-doped polypyrrole thin films as driving electrodes

All-organic PDLC (polymer-dispersed liquid crystal) light-valves using all-polymer conductive substrates containing thin films of polypyrrole doped with anthraquinone-2-sulfonate (AQSA(-)) as the driving electrodes were fabricated in this study. The all-polymer conductive substrates were prepared under ambient conditions by in situ depositing polypyrrole thin films on blank flexible poly(ethylene terephthalate), or PET, substrates from aqueous media in which oxidative polymerization of pyrrole was taking place. The obtained flexible all-polymer conductive substrates were semi-transparent with cohesive coatings of AQSA(-)-doped polypyrrole thin films (thickness similar to 55 nm). The all-polymer flexible conductive substrates had sheet resistivity similar to 40 k Omega square(-1) and T% transparency against air similar to 78% at 600 nm. The light-valves fabricated using the above all-polymer conductive substrates showed similar to 50% transparency against air at 600 nm when 4V mu m(-1) electric field was applied. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.