Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets

Liquid crystal (LC) droplets are highly attractive for applications in privacy windows, optical switches, optical vortices, optical microresonators, microlenses, and biosensors due to their ease of fabrication and easy alignment at surfaces. This review presents the latest advancements in LC droplet...

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Main Authors: Le Zhou, Tingjun Zhong, Huihui Wang, Ke Xu, Pouya Nosratkhah, Kristiaan Neyts
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Crystals
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/14/11/934
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author Le Zhou
Tingjun Zhong
Huihui Wang
Ke Xu
Pouya Nosratkhah
Kristiaan Neyts
author_facet Le Zhou
Tingjun Zhong
Huihui Wang
Ke Xu
Pouya Nosratkhah
Kristiaan Neyts
author_sort Le Zhou
collection DOAJ
description Liquid crystal (LC) droplets are highly attractive for applications in privacy windows, optical switches, optical vortices, optical microresonators, microlenses, and biosensors due to their ease of fabrication and easy alignment at surfaces. This review presents the latest advancements in LC droplets, which have nematic, chiral nematic, and twist–bend nematic and ferroelectric nematic phases, or blue phases. Finally, it discusses the challenges and opportunities for applications based on LC droplets. The main challenges encompass the precise control of internal structures and defects to meet diverse application requirements, enhancing stability and durability across various environments, reducing large-scale production costs to improve commercial feasibility, increasing response speeds to external stimuli to adapt to rapidly changing scenarios, and developing tunable LC droplets to achieve broader functionalities.
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institution OA Journals
issn 2073-4352
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publishDate 2024-10-01
publisher MDPI AG
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series Crystals
spelling doaj-art-16c27dc36205439998d52fc69fcdfde32025-08-20T02:28:12ZengMDPI AGCrystals2073-43522024-10-01141193410.3390/cryst14110934Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal DropletsLe Zhou0Tingjun Zhong1Huihui Wang2Ke Xu3Pouya Nosratkhah4Kristiaan Neyts5State Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies (SKLADT), Clear Water Bay, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Chemistry, College of Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optoelectronics Technology, Ministry of Education, Being University of Technology, Beijing 100124, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies (SKLADT), Clear Water Bay, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies (SKLADT), Clear Water Bay, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies (SKLADT), Clear Water Bay, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaLiquid crystal (LC) droplets are highly attractive for applications in privacy windows, optical switches, optical vortices, optical microresonators, microlenses, and biosensors due to their ease of fabrication and easy alignment at surfaces. This review presents the latest advancements in LC droplets, which have nematic, chiral nematic, and twist–bend nematic and ferroelectric nematic phases, or blue phases. Finally, it discusses the challenges and opportunities for applications based on LC droplets. The main challenges encompass the precise control of internal structures and defects to meet diverse application requirements, enhancing stability and durability across various environments, reducing large-scale production costs to improve commercial feasibility, increasing response speeds to external stimuli to adapt to rapidly changing scenarios, and developing tunable LC droplets to achieve broader functionalities.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/14/11/934liquid crystal dropletscholesteric phaseblue phasetwist–bend nematic phaseferroelectric nematic phase
spellingShingle Le Zhou
Tingjun Zhong
Huihui Wang
Ke Xu
Pouya Nosratkhah
Kristiaan Neyts
Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets
Crystals
liquid crystal droplets
cholesteric phase
blue phase
twist–bend nematic phase
ferroelectric nematic phase
title Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets
title_full Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets
title_fullStr Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets
title_full_unstemmed Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets
title_short Progress and Prospect of Liquid Crystal Droplets
title_sort progress and prospect of liquid crystal droplets
topic liquid crystal droplets
cholesteric phase
blue phase
twist–bend nematic phase
ferroelectric nematic phase
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/14/11/934
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AT tingjunzhong progressandprospectofliquidcrystaldroplets
AT huihuiwang progressandprospectofliquidcrystaldroplets
AT kexu progressandprospectofliquidcrystaldroplets
AT pouyanosratkhah progressandprospectofliquidcrystaldroplets
AT kristiaanneyts progressandprospectofliquidcrystaldroplets