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. 2023 Aug 16;15(16):3420.
doi: 10.3390/polym15163420.

Performances of Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal Films for Smart Glass Applications

Muhammad Shahriyar Islam  1 , Kah-Yoong Chan  1 , Gregory Soon How Thien  1 , Pei-Ling Low  1 , Chu-Liang Lee  1 , Sew Kin Wong  1 , Ervina Efzan Mhd Noor  2 , Benedict Wen-Cheun Au  3 , Zi-Neng Ng  4
Affiliations

Performances of Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal Films for Smart Glass Applications

Muhammad Shahriyar Islam et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film is an active smart film penetrating the market due to its unique functionalities. These functional characteristics include switchable tint capabilities, which shield building residents from the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays, improve energy-saving features, and produce higher cost-efficiency. Although PDLC films are promising in several applications, there is still ambiguity on the performance of PDLC films. Particularly, the sizing effects' (such as film thickness and area) correlation with visible light transmission (VLT), ultraviolet rejection (UVR), infrared rejection (IRR), light intensity, current consumption, and apparent power consumption is not well understood. Therefore, this study investigated the sizing effects of PDLC films, including the thickness effect on VLT, UVR, IRR, light intensity, and area influence on current and apparent power consumptions. The varying applied voltage effect on the light transmittance of the PDLC film was also effectively demonstrated. A 0.1 mm PDLC film was successfully presented as a cost-efficient film with optimal parameters. Consequently, this study paves the way for a clearer understanding of PDLC films (behavior and sizing effects) in implementing economic PDLC films for large-scale adoption in commercial and residential premises.

Keywords: apparent power consumption; current consumption; infrared rejection; polymer-dispersed liquid crystals; ultraviolet rejection; visible light transmittance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fabrication process of PDLC films [32].
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Schematic diagram indicating the VLT, UVR, and IRR measurements using an LS162 transmission meter. (b) Schematic diagram indicating the setup to measure the light intensity through a PDLC film. (c) Schematic diagram indicating the setup to measure current consumption through a PDLC film.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Visible light transmittance and (b) ultraviolet measurements for PDLC films with thicknesses ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 mm. (c) Operation mechanism of a PDLC film in its OFF (opaque) and ON (transparent) states.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Infrared rejection and (b) light intensity measurements for PDLC films with thicknesses ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 mm.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Current and apparent power consumption measurement for PDLC films with area ranging from 210 mm × 75 mm to 420 mm × 297 mm. The blue circles indicate their corresponding y-axes.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Current/mm2 and apparent power/mm2 measurement for PDLC films with area ranging from 210 mm × 75 mm to 420 mm × 297 mm.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) Visible light transmittance and (b) ultraviolet and infrared rejection measurements with varying input voltage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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