In this study, a one-side zero-azimuth anchoring in-plane switching (OZ-IPS) liquid crystal display (LCD) employing poly(n-hexyl methacrylate) (PHMA) bottlebrush polymers as an application-type zero-azimuth anchoring material was successfully developed. The twist anchoring coefficient A 2 measured for the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) on the PHMA bottlebrush at 25 °C was comparable to that of the same NLC on high-density PHMA brushes. Optimizing the optical design increased the transmission efficiency (TE) of the OZ-IPS cell with the negative NLC to 95%, which was significantly higher than that of conventional IPS cells. Using optical simulation, the OZ-IPS LCDs with a negative NLC clearly exhibited the highest TE (;107% of TN LCDs) for LCDs developed thus far. Moreover, the higher transmittance of the OZ-IPS LCDs was also confirmed for the practical TFT LCD, which exhibited a maximum luminance that was 30% higher than conventional IPS TFT LCDs.

An in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal display (LCD) containing the zero-azimuth anchoring layers formed only on the electrodes and rubbed polyimide (PI) covered on the other areas was successfully developed. This configuration was realized using photoreactive PI with photo-radical generation units and the mask exposure technique. The maximum transmittance (T max) of this LCD was 1.12 times higher than that of a conventional IPS LCD. This was attributed to a large aperture in the voltage-on state because the nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) on the electrodes were barely anchored to the surface, such that the NLCs could be rotated by applying a small in-plane electric field above the electrodes, and by an elastic torque caused by the twisted NLCs between the electrodes. Furthermore, the response times of this LCD were equivalent to those of a conventional IPS LCD because the NLCs between the electrodes quickly recovered to their initial orientation after removing the electric field, and the NLCs on the electrodes followed this movement. This novel LCD is termed a ‘partially zero-azimuth anchoring IPS (PZ-IPS) LCD’, which is the first practical LCD utilizing these weak anchoring characteristics in the history of LCDs.

In this study, a one‐side zero‐anchoring in‐plane switching (OZ‐IPS) liquid crystal display that used an application‐type, zero‐azimuth anchoring material as a substitute for polymer brushes was successfully developed. The transmission efficiency of this OZ‐IPS cell was also improved by optimizing its optical design.