Morphology and preparation of polymer dispersed liquid crystals by solvent-induced phase separation method

A new salicylaldimine based chiral calamitic liquid crystal 5-((S)-3,7-dimethyloctyloxy)-2-[[[ 4-(octyloxy) phenyl] imino] methyl] phenol (DOPIMP) has been synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic methods (1H-NMR and C-13-NMR). Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) composite films were prepared from poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and DOPIMP by solvent-induced phase separation (SIPS) method. Polymer and LC composite films were controlled with ratio 20: 80(wt.% LC) and 30: 70(wt.% LC). The mesomorphic behavior of DOPIMP liquid crystal has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical polarizing microscopy (PM). The mesophase of PDLC composite films were characterized by PM and the morphology of the PDLC composite films was studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM).