Control of liquid crystal pretilt angles by using organic/inorganic hybrid interpenetrating networks

A new photoalignment method of controlling the pretilt angle of liquid crystals (LCs) by using organic/inorganic hybrid interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) is proposed and demonstrated. In the hybrid IPN alignment layer system, the competition between poly(vinyl cinnamate) (PVCi) favoring planar alignment and poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) favoring vertical alignment made it possible to achieve pretilt angle in a wide range from 0 degrees to 90 degrees, and adjust pretilt angle as a function of PDMS content. In addition, we achieved the high azimuthal anchoring energy at the intermediate pretilt angle by using PDMS as the vertical-aligning component.