High-Throughput Preparation and Machine Learning Screening of a Blue-Phase Liquid Crystal Based on Inkjet Printing.

Blue-phase liquid crystal (BPLC) is considered as the next-generation liquid crystal display material, but its practical application is seriously affected by a narrow temperature range and a long research period. In this paper, we used inkjet printing technology to prepare BPLC materials with high throughput, and try to use machine vision technology to test BPLC with high throughput. The "standard curve method" for establishing each printing channel and the "vector matching method" for searching the chromaticity value of the minimum distance were proposed to improve the accuracy of inkjet printing BPLC materials. For a large number of sample-phase images, we propose a machine learning method to identify the liquid crystal phase. In this paper, for the first time, the high-throughput preparation and high-throughput detection of 1080 BPLC samples with five common components by a comprehensive experimental method has been successfully realized. The results are helpful to improve the research efficiency of blue-phase materials and provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for rapid screening of multi-component BPLC materials.

Research Progress of Electrically Driven Multi-Stable Cholesteric Liquid Crystals.

Electrically driven multi-stable cholesteric liquid crystals can be used to adjust the transmittance of incident light. Compared with the traditional liquid crystal optical devices, the multi-stable devices only apply an electric field during switching and do not require a continuous electric field to maintain the various optical states of the device. Therefore, the multi-stable devices have low energy consumption and have become a research focus for researchers. However, the multi-stable devices still have shortcomings before practical application, such as contrast, switching time, and mechanical strength. In this article, the latest research progress on electrically driven multi-stable cholesteric liquid crystals is reviewed, including electrically driven multi-stable modes, performance optimization, and applications. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of electrically driven multi-stable cholesteric liquid crystals are discussed in anticipation of contributing to the development of multi-stable liquid crystal devices.

Ionic Chiral Ferrocene Doped Cholesteric Liquid Crystal with Electronically Tunable Reflective Bandwidth performance.

Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLC) were widely used in optical devices as one-dimensional photonic crystals. However, their reflective bands cannot be adjusted, which limits their wide application in many fields. In this paper, a series of ionic chiral ferrocene derivatives (CD-Fc+) as dopants were designed and prepared, and their doping into negative liquid crystal matrix was investigated to develop cholesteric response liquid crystal composites with electrically tunable reflective bands. The effects of electric field frequency, voltage, retention time of voltage and molecular structure on the broadening of reflection bandwidth were investigated in detail.