Kent State University

Other

John L West

Anatoliy Volodymyrovych Glushchenko

Joseph W Doane

Da-Wei Lee

J William Doane

Yuriy Reznikov

Guoqiang Zhang

Ebru Aylin Buyuktanir

Oleg Yaroshchuk

Philip J Bos

Peter Palffy-Muhoray

Antal Jakli

Deng-Ke Yang

Bao-Gang Wu

John Ernest Harden, Jr

Margaret W Frey

Victor Yu Reshetnyak

Slobodan Zumer

Vincent J Hetherington

Ke Zhang

Yimin Ji

James J Francl

Marc Rouberol

Jill S Kawalec

Hari Mukunda Atkuri

Merrill Groom

Yurii Reznikov

Paul Anders Olson

Chae Il Cheon

Fenghua Li

Yijing Chen

Eugene P Wenninger

Lawrence Osher

Jason Morvan

J Craig Carrell

A method of patterning a combined layer of an electrically-conductive film, such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO), that is disposed on a flexible substrate includes bending the combined layer about a radius of curvature. The combined layer is initially bent in a first direction so that the electrically-conducive film is distal to the radius of curvature, so as to form initial dielectric lines in the electrically-conductive film. The combined layer is then bent in another direction so that the electrically-conductive film is proximate to the radius of curvature to further enhance the dielectric performance of the initial dielectric lines. The dielectric lines electrically isolate a portion of the electrically-conductive film that is disposed therebetween, to form an electrically conductive electrode.

Method of patterning electrically-conductive film on a flexible substrate

A thermochromic fabric utilizing cholesteric liquid crystals includes a fabric material or garment formed therefrom. The liquid crystal material is patterned with a plurality of different liquid crystal formulations, whereby each formulation has high thermal sensitivity over a narrow temperature range. As a result, the aggregate pattern of liquid crystal material formed on the thermochromic fabric allows the thermochromic fabric to have high thermal sensitivity over a broad temperature range. As such, the fabric or garment may be worn on specific body parts of a patient, such as his or her feet, to assist in making a medical diagnosis.

Thermochromic fabrics utilizing cholesteric liquid crystal material

A frequency controlled electro-optical device includes a substrate having transparent conductive control sections patterned thereon to selectively control the optical state of an electro-optical layer. Each of the control sections are partially electrically isolated from each other by crack lines, which allows for electrical communication between adjacent/proximate control sections to occur. As such, an electrical control signal applied directly to one control section forms an electric field in that control section, and also induces an electrical field in adjacent control sections that are not in direct receipt of the control signal. Therefore, the number of electrical connections required for coupling to a driving circuit to operate the device is minimized, thereby allowing the device to be fabricated with reduced complexity and cost.

Frequency-controlled electro-optical device

A piezoelectric device includes a fiber mat comprising polymer fibers with ferroelectric particles embedded in the polymer fibers. The ferroelectric particles are oriented to generate a net polarization in the fiber mat. The ferroelectric particles may comprise barium titanate particles. The polymer fibers may comprise polylactic acid (PLA) fibers. The piezoelectric device may further include substrates sandwiching the fiber mat, and the fiber mat may be formed by electrospinning polymer fibers containing ferroelectric particles onto one of the substrates. The piezoelectric device may be a piezoelectric actuator configured to receive an input voltage applied across the fiber mat and to output a mechanical displacement in response to the voltage, or the piezoelectric device may be configured to output a voltage in response to a mechanical force applied to the fiber mat.

Super-piezoelectric composite fiber mats for power generation and soft actuators

A method of patterning an electrically-conductive film is performed by providing a flexible substrate that carries the electrically-conductive film thereon to form a combined layer. The combined layer is then bent about a radius of curvature, so as to impart a stress on the brittle conductive film along the axis of curvature of the curved surface. The application of the stress to the conductive film results in the formation of crack lines that are substantially perpendicular to the direction to which the substrate and conductive film are bent. The crack lines serve to define and electrically isolate conductive sections therebetween that can be utilized as electrodes and address lines in electronic devices.

Method of patterning electrically-conductive film on flexible substrates

The invention relates to flexible liquid crystal devices and methods, and the electrically conducting backplane of a liquid crystal display for example. A substrate is provided that supports components of a liquid crystal display including a liquid crystal layer that is electrically addressed to produce images. The substrate can be flexible or drapable. An electrode arrangement is formed on the substrate, which includes a plurality of small islands or zones of highly conductive material. The highly conductive islands or zones may be dimensioned to be smaller than the dimensions of the electrode pattern, and are electrically isolated from one another. The plurality of islands or zones are then connected in a predetermined pattern by a conducting polymer layer having a predetermined configuration to provide the desired electrode pattern.

Transparent conducting electrodes and method for producing

There are provided methods and systems for precisely controlling the surfactant concentration and character of ferroelectric nanoparticles in a ferroelectric liquid crystal dispersion. In an aspect, the invention provides an efficient FTIR technique to characterize the status and measure the distribution of the surfactant in ferroelectric particle dispersion. This allows for establishing a reproducible fabrication process for ferroelectric nanoparticle liquid crystal dispersions. The methods also maintain the nanoparticles ferroelectricity, which is provided by the addition of surfactant during a comminution process. The invention therefore optimizes both the milling time (to achieve small particle size and narrow size distribution) and surfactant concentration (to maintain the ferroelectricity during milling).

Methods and systems for monitoring and controlling surfactant concentration in liquid crystal colloidal dispersions

A process for making a stimuli responsive liquid crystal-polymer composite fiber comprising mixing a liquid crystal, a polymer, and a solvent; processing the mixture in the presence of an electric potential across a collection distance; phase separating a polymer and said liquid crystal; and encapsulating said liquid crystal within said polymer. The fiber generally comprises a liquid crystal core and a polymer shell wherein the liquid crystal is responsive to chemical changes, thermal and mechanical effects, as well as electrical and magnetic fields. A liquid crystal containing fiber can be utilized as optical fibers, in textiles, and in optoelectronic devices.

Method of making stimuli responsive liquid crystal-polymer composite fibers

A new light modulating material using interconnected unidirectionally oriented microdomains of a liquid crystal, dispersed in a stressed polymer structure, is provided. The light modulating material is prepared by dissolving the liquid crystal in an uncured monomer and then curing the monomer so that the polymer forms a well-developed interpenetrating structure of polymer chains or sheets that is uniformly dispersed through the film. When the film is subjected to stress deformation the liquid crystal undergoes a change in its unidirectional orientation. The concentration of the polymer is high enough to hold the shear stress, but is as low as possible to provide the highest switch of the phase retardation when an electric field is applied. The new materials are optically transparent and provide phase modulation of the incident light opposed to the low driving voltage, linear electro-optical response, and absence of hysteresis. It has been shown that these new materials may be successfully used in display applications, optical modulator, and beam steering devices.

Stressed liquid crystals materials for light modulation

A liquid crystal device comprises ferroelectric particles suspended in a liquid crystal material. A method for fabricating a light-modulating device is also disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing a pair of substrates with a cell gap therebetween, wherein electrodes are disposed on the facing surfaces of the substrates, and permanently disposing a suspension of ferroelectric particles in a liquid crystal material into said cell gap. A method of generating an image comprises providing a pair of substrates with a cell gap therebetween, providing transparent electrodes on each of said substrates adjacent to the cell gap, permanently disposing a suspension of ferroelectric particles in a liquid crystal material within the cell gap, and applying an electric field across the electrodes.

Material for liquid crystal cell

This disclosure outlines a new method of modifying the properties of existing liquid crystals by doping them with ferroelectric micro- and nanoparticles. We show that this approach, in contrast to the traditional time consuming and expensive chemical synthetic methods, enriches and enhances the electro-optical performance of many liquid crystal materials. We demonstrate that by changing the concentration and type of ferroelectric particles the physical properties of the nematic, smectic, and cholesteric liquid crystal materials can be changed, including the dielectric constants, the birefringence, the phase transition temperatures, and even the order parameter. We also demonstrate the performance of these new materials in various devices, including displays, light modulators, and beam steering devices.

Non-synthetic method for modifying properties of liquid crystals

A new light modulating material using unidirectionally oriented micro-domains of liquid crystal separated by polymer chains is provided. Liquid crystal/polymer films are produced by a one step production process involving a photopolymerizable monomer mixed with a liquid crystal then exposed to UV light. In one embodiment, force deformations are applied to the films resulting in diffraction efficiencies of more than 95%. In another embodiment, applying a planar force to a thick film that produced a 2 &#x3bc;m shift of phase retardation in several hundred microseconds when an appropriate field is applied. Use of this invention provides fast response time and a low required driving voltage. The new cell can be used as spatial light modulators for manufacturing information displays, electro-optical devices, telecommunications system, optical data processing, adaptive optics applications, color projection displays and switchable micro-lens optics.

Stressed liquid crystals as an ultra-fast light modulating material consisting of unidirectionally oriented liquid crystal micro-domains separated by polymer chains

A method is provided for forming an alignment layer for a liquid crystal cell that is made from a liquid crystal film that has been irradiated with light. The method includes the steps of disposing a liquid crystal film on a substrate and then irradiating the liquid crystal film with light. Also, a liquid crystal display that includes an alignment layer that is a liquid crystal film that has been irradiated with light.

Method for alignment of liquid crystals using irradiated liquid crystal films

A method for forming walls (8) between substrates (11, 12) in a liquid crystal cell (10) includes the step of forming a cell with a liquid crystal-monomer mixture (50). The cell (10) is then exposed to ultraviolet light (70) causing the monomer to be selectively polymerized to form walls (8) between substrates (11, 12) of the cell. The monomer is selectively polymerized by applying an electric field across the cell through a patterned conductive coating (31, 32) on each substrate (11, 12) to separate the dispersed monomer to the low field, interpixel regions (72). The cell (10) is then exposed to ultraviolet light (70) to polymerize the separated monomer to form the walls (8) in the low field regions (72).

Growing community of inventors

Monroe Falls, OH, United States of America

John L West