Wenbo Shen's research while affiliated with Government of the People's Republic of China and other places

... Another solution to incorporate liquid crystal epoxy into mixtures with cholesteric compounds is to implant mesogenic epoxy microspheres into the CLC matrix. Research carried out in the article [46] by Zhang et al. proves that such systems are characterized by high bistability, i.e., the ability to be in one of two stable states and remain in it for a long time without the need for continuous external energy supply. This offers prospects for the production of promising materials that can be used as intelligent windows or shading elements with low energy consumption. ...

... LCEs are a combination of liquid crystal mesogens and polymer networks, possessing anisotropy of mesogens and elasticity of polymer networks [16][17][18]. When subjected to external stimuli (e.g., temperature, light, non-polar solvents), LCEs undergo the nematic-isotropic phase transition, causing an anisotropic contraction ( Figure 1E) [19][20][21]. By spatially patterning the mesogens, they can produce versatile in-plane or out-of-plane actuation modes, including bending, twisting, curling, and extension [22][23][24]. ...

... Among the various types of low-molar-mass liquid crystals (LCs) and polymeric liquid crystals, the cholesteric type of LCs, which are characterized by an unusual helical structure (Fig. 1a), is of greatest interest from the point of view of their possible applications [1,2]. This type of structural organization predetermines remarkable optical properties including a selective light reflection (SLR) band with a center wavelength λ max proportional to the pitch P of the helix ...

... Thus, significant changes have been observed in the physical properties of the produced composites [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Liquid crystal/Polymer composites, which are formed by combining NLCs with polymers, are preferred as potential materials for switchable smart windows applications [16][17][18]. The combination of NLCs with a low proportion of polymer forms a polymer stabilized liquid crystal (PSLC), and the combination of NLCs with a high proportion of polymer forms a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) [19,20]. ...

... 39,40 MoO 3 microrods, which are larger than nanorods, aid in better dispersion within liquid crystal matrices, preventing agglomeration, ensuring uniform distribution, and enhancing stability in the liquid crystal matrix. 41,42 Figure 5b shows the EDX spectra analysis which confirms the successful incorporation of vanadium, titanium, molybdenum, selenium, and oxygen as per the stoichiometry ratio. ...

... Smartphones, laptops, and other products for electronic information displays have developed rapidly and become an essential part of our work and life [1]. To pursue a better display effect, the wide viewing angle, high luminance, and high reliability are used in electronic displays, bringing visual feast and enjoyment to users [2]. ...

... Particularly, recent investigation indicates that doping polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) can attenuate the surface free energy and diminish the driving voltages, which works similarly to the fluorinated polymer [21][22][23]. The intuitive way to ameliorate the properties is by tuning the molecular structure of each component, and tremendous efforts have been devoted to this purpose, such as the research on fluorinated, alkene-terminated and cyano-terminated tolane liquid crystals; acrylate and thiol monomers with different chain lengths, functionality and terminal groups; and low-molar-mass, oligomeric and polymeric photoinitiators [4,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. These methods can alleviate the obstacles to some extent. ...

... At present, PDLCs demonstrate tremendous potential for a variety of applications including physical and chemical sensors [20][21][22], displays [23,24], time temperature indicators [25], smart windows [26], etc. The electro-optical performance of PDLCs has been improved in various strategies, such as doping guests (e.g., dyes [27] and nanoparticles [14,28]), utilizing LC elastomers [29], and innovating novel modes [30][31][32]. However, the singleness of the function and color of common PDLCs largely limits their application scope. ...

... Electrochromic LCD (EC-LCD) utilizes the rotation of liquid crystal molecules to effect color change. [108] When an electric field is applied, the liquid crystal molecules are rearranged, causing a color change. Therefore, EC-LCD can be utilized to display various graphics, texts, and images for applications in watches, calculators, and smartphones, among others. ...

... Doping NLC with nanoparticles (NPs) of varied dimensions and characteristics to form LC-NP nanocomposites with improved electro-optic and dielectric properties has recently been a muchexplored field of work. These nanocomposites with tailored physical properties can be used for the development of modern displays [4][5][6], smart windows [7,8], and biosensors [9,10], while also helping in answering physically significant questions regarding chirality transfer between molecules [11,12] and phase stabilisation based on symmetry breaking of director field [13]. ...