Polymer-stabilized pretilt angle on the surface of nanoparticle-induced verticalalignment surface for multi-domain vertical-alignment liquid-crystal display

By introducing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanoparticles along with a controlled amount of UV-curable reactive mesogen (RM) into a liquid-crystalline (LC) medium, a multi-domain vertical-alignment LC device was successfully demonstrated. The device, possessing a vertically aligned LC director in four different azimuthal directions, exhibited a fast response time and wide-viewing-angle characteristics, in the absence of conventional polymer-type vertical-alignment layers. Electro-optic characteristics of the fabricated device, before and after UV curing of the cell, were studied. The surface morphology of the substrate surfaces were analyzed by using fieldemission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The experimental results show that the technology will possibly be applicable to cost-effective vertical-alignment liquid-crystal devices and is suitable for green-technology liquid-crystal displays.