Identifying a Unique Communication Mechanism of Thermochromic Liquid Crystal Printing Ink

Thermochromic liquid crystal materials are commonly used in printing inks, opening up a wide range of possible applications. In order to ensure and control the most accurate application, the occurrence of the so-called colour play effect, i.e., the appearance of iridescent (rainbow) colours as a function of temperature, must be determined precisely. For this purpose, the temperature-dependent reflection of a sample must be measured using a spectrometer with an integrating sphere. The same values should be obtained for each sample containing the same thermochromic liquid crystalline material, irrespective of the spectrometer used, integrating sphere, layer thickness and the surface properties of the substrate. To describe this intrinsic property of the thermochromic liquid crystal material, the term communication mechanism might be considered. The research has shown how this mechanism is obtained experimentally.

Design Optimization of Reconfigurable Liquid Crystal Patch Antenna

In various fields such as the 5G antenna system and satellite communication system, there is a growing demand to develop a smart antenna with a frequency selective or beamforming function within a limited space. While antennas utilizing mechanical, electronic, and material characteristics are being studied, a method of having tunable frequency characteristics by applying a liquid crystal material with dielectric anisotropy to a planar patch antenna is proposed. In resonance mode, the design method for using only the minimum amount of expensive liquid crystals is systematically arranged while maximizing the amount of change in the operating frequency of the antenna by considering the electric field distribution on the surface of the patch antenna. Furthermore, to increase the dielectric anisotropy of the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal must be aligned. Simultaneously, in cases where the cell gap of the liquid crystal exceeds 100 μm, the alignment force is weakened. While compensating for this shortcoming, securing the radiation characteristics of the antenna is proposed, and simulations are performed.

A phase-dependent photoluminescent discotic liquid crystal bearing a graphdiyne substructure

In this manuscript, a graphdiyne-derived discotic liquid crystal material exhibiting a tunable phase-dependent photoluminescence property is reported.