Flexible ferroelectric liquid crystal cell stabilized by column spacer and polymer wall: Influence of bending and pressing on the mechanical stability

We prepared a flexible ferroelectric liquid crystal cell stabilized by column spacers and polymer walls. The column-shaped spacers were built on a plastic substrate and a liquid crystal-reactive monomer mixture was printed on it. The polymer walls were formed perpendicular to the column spacers by a polymerization-induced phase-separation technique, and the polymer networks were formed in the pixel area by an additional UV curing. The change of the liquid crystal orientation was examined vs the bending and pressing of the plastic substrates.