Investigation of reactive acrylic monomers for their effect on the temperature range and operating voltage of polymer-stabilised optically isotropic liquid crystal blue phases

Synthesis of various reactive acrylic monomers (RMs) to be used as components in liquid crystalline blue phase (LCBP) mixtures has been carried out in order to investigate their effect on temperature range and operating voltage. All the newly synthesised RMs were fully purified and characterised. These were added in various molar ratios to LCBP mixtures, which were stabilised by ultraviolet polymerisation, and improvements in the operating voltage and temperature range were studied. The compatibility of LCBP and monomer side-chains was investigated in terms of polarity and alkyl chain length.