Dye-doped liquid crystals under confinement in microcapsules

Multicolor Electrochromic Dye-Doped Liquid Crystal Yolk–Shell Microcapsules

“…The CIE color coordinates (Figure c) show that the color gamut, defined by the chromaticity coordinates of red, green, and blue MC-DDLC-Ms at 0–3.9 V, is significantly larger than that at 3.9–4.8 V. Meanwhile, the chromaticity coordinates of red, green, and blue MC-DDLC-Ms tend to approach to the colorless state (0.33 and 0.33) as the electric field intensity approaches 4.8 V. All results indicate that the color saturation and contrast can be continuously modulated by the electric field intensity, which was also supported by the fiber-optical spectrometry (FOS) test results, as shown in Figures S10 and S11. Moreover, the cycles of applying/removing the electric field can be repeated at least 50 times, and the maximum reflectivity of the MC-DDLC-Ms device has hardly changed (Figure b), which indicates that the device has a good electrochromic stability …”

Bioinspired Electro-Responsive Multispectral Controllable Dye-Doped Liquid Crystal Yolk–Shell Microcapsules for Advanced Textiles

“…The EM-DDLC-YS-Ms device was further placed under POM followed by supplying voltage to explore the limited behavior of the DDLC in microcapsules (Figure S9a and S9d). ,,, Figure d shows that the driving voltage, response time, and delay time of EM-DDLC-YS-Ms were 9.3 V, 62 s, and 32 s, respectively, which may be attributed to the DDLC anchored by the spherical inner surface of the microcapsule and/or magnetic seed to stunted the rotation of the optic axis. In addition, the as-made device exhibits a satisfactory viewing angle property (∼155 o ) as shown in Figure S9b.…”

“…Recently, dye-doped liquid crystals (DDLCs) have been widely applied in photoelectric regulator-related applications due to their unique capability of light manipulation, included holographic gratings, , electrically tunable laser, , light-controlled robot, , smart windows, , and textile coating. , Among these features, the reflection-mode display units derived from DDLCs have attracted huge attention since they can achieve full-spectrum color tuning in a single-component material by the doped different dichroic dye. In addition, DDLC reflective displays can show color change without back-light different from the conventional LCD modes, which makes them an ideal alternative to current wearable displays. , However, DDLCs have some difficulty in forming stand-alone architectures, thereby being detrimental to their independent functionality and processability. , In addition, the DDLC is a valuable resource but also hazardous waste, which will damage the environment if released into the soil or river. , The intermolecular force between dyes and liquid crystals is easily broken due to its special property of environment sensitivity and leads to unstable photoelectric performance, which all limited its application in wearable electrochromic fabric …”

Biomimetic Solid–Liquid Transition Structural Dye-Doped Liquid Crystal/Phase-Change-Material Microcapsules Designed for Wearable Bistable Electrochromic Fabric

“…Characteristics of Bis-DDLC-Ms. Based on our previous research, microencapsulation technology was used to confine the PCM/DDLC mixture to a certain space to weaken the phase separation phenomenon during the phase transition and, meanwhile, enhance the anchoring effect of the paraffin substrate on the DDLCs. 42,43 Herein, the Bis-DDLC-Ms were prepared according to the following one-step emulsion solvent diffusion/evaporation method to induce phase migration/ separation procedure as illustrated in Figure 1a. As shown in Figures 1b, S1b, and S2, all of the microcapsules maintain a spherical structure after drying, which indicated that initially, the spherical PCM/DDLC droplet was encapsulated into a microcapsule with good structural strength.…”