Optically driving liquid crystal displays (ODLCDs) are widely applied in display and optical devices due to their long axis of liquid crystal (LC) molecules that can be tuned by a photo-alignment layer under exposure polarized light. However, their use remains challenging due to their long rewriting time and response time. In this work, the rewriting time and the response time of an ODLCD depending on mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) doped in azo-dye (SD1) and LC 5CB were studied. Among the different concentration ratios of SD1-MSNs (1-0 to 1-0.1), a ratio of 1-0.07 was optimal, decreasing the rewriting time by 40 s (from 69.1 to 29.6 s). Meanwhile, the response time was improved 10 times with MSNs doped into 5CB.

In the past few years, people have put forward higher and higher requirements for the performance of liquid crystal displays, such as higher refresh rate and picture continuity which requires liquid crystal displays having lower threshold voltage and shorter response time. In order to study the electro‐optical properties of liquid crystal display, the experiments was designed to dope SiO2 nano‐particles into the SD1 solution and to observe the impact on the threshold voltage, the electrical response time and the rewriting time of the optically driving liquid crystal display (ODLCD). The experiment results show that doping SiO2 nano‐particles in the liquid crystals can reduce the threshold voltage, the electrical response time and the rewriting time of ODLCD.