• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.145-148
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• 2012

The effects of the linearly polarized UV (LPUV) irradiation and thermal treatment of a photo-degradable polyimide (CBDA-ODA) alignment layer (AL) on its AL properties, liquid crystal (LC) alignment, and LCD characteristics have been investigated. The best quality of LC photo-alignment have been induced by the LPUV-irradiation with much (about 5~10 times) less dosage than that generating the maximum anisotropy of the AL. A thermal treatment of the LPUV-irradiated AL has effectively removed the undesirable, low-M.W. fragments of the AL generated during the photo-decomposition and increased the stability of the AL, which has resulted in improvement of the LC alignment and the LCD property.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.74-81
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• 2007

A series of photoreactive mesogens based on chalcone were prepared and their morphological behavior and reactivity were studied according to a variable number of alkyloxy tail carbons. The linear ester compounds 3a-h comprised two chalcone units connected to a benzene ring through ester linkages. All linear ester compounds showed enantiotropic liquid crystalline phases. The X-ray diffractograms for the mesophases of compounds 3a-h showed a set of reflections in the small-angle region which consisted of more than three sharp diffraction peaks with d spacings in the ratio of 1:1/2:1/3, confirming the well defined smectic A structures of the compounds. Compounds 3a-h were considered to be bifunctional monomers due to the presence of two photoreactive chalcone groups. Upon UV irradiation, its polymerization proceeded through the [2+2] addition reaction between chalcone units in a stepwise manner. An image pattern was obtained by the photopolymerization of the liquid crystal of the compound (3h) with decyloxy tails through a photomask. The irradiated part became dark while the masked part remained birefringent under polarized optical microscopy, which was ascribed to the production via the UV irradiation of a polymer or a dimer having cyclobutane rings by [2+2] addition, which thereby disrupted the alignment of the molecules.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2010

Photo-alignment property of groove patterned surface prepared from blend of poly (vinyl cinnamate) (PVCi) and oligomeric dicinnamate was investigated for the application for alignment layer of liquid crystal display. The study of the photoreaction kinetics using UV-vis spectrum with the irradiation time showed that the reaction rate of oligomeric cinnamate was enhanced compared to that of PVCi. Blend where PVCi was main component showed a slight improvement on the photoreaction rate. It was unable to obtain groove patterned surface only using oligomeric cinnamate itself owing to the high crystalline character. However, blending of PVCi made it possible to obtain clear surface pattern. Molecular orientation could be confirmed from the polar plot data. It can be suggested that blend of oligomeric cinnamate and polymeric cinnamate is promising material for the photoalignment layer.