Effects of morphology and concentration of CuS nanoparticles on alignment and electro-optic properties of nematic liquid crystal

Nanoparticles (NPs) with flower-like and frame morphologies were synthesized from CuS, a remarkable transition-metal sulfide. We introduced two kinds of CuS NPs into a nematic liquid crystal (LC) 4-cyano-4'-n-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) and investigated the morphology- and concentration-dependent alignment and electro-optic (E-O) effects of CuS NPs on 5CB. A trace amount of flower-like CuS NPs induced a uniform homeotropic orientation of LC molecules; this is attributable to the obtained desirable compact nanosheet structure. Moreover, both flower-like and frame CuS NPs induced a remarkable improvement in the E-O properties of 5CB, and the flower-like CuS/5CB system exhibited a better performance. The doped CuS NPs in the LC host suppressed the shielding effect and strengthened the electric field, resulting in outstanding E-O properties. At a doping concentration of 0.05 wt.%, CuS NPs were well-dispersed and achieved the optimum E-O performance. This study provides a novel method for inducing a uniform orientation and enhanced E-O properties of LC molecules by doping with extraordinary CuS NPs, leading to potential applications in establishing flexible LC displays. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]