Droplet manipulation on a liquid crystal and polymer composite film

Abstract

A droplet manipulation on a switchable surface using a liquid crystal and polymer composite film (LCPCF) based on phase separation is developed recently. The wettability of LCPCF is electrically tunable because of the orientation of liquid crystal directors anchored among the polymer grains. A droplet on LCPCF can be manipulated owning to the wettability gradient induced by spatially orientation of LC directors. We discuss the droplet manipulation on LCPCF and demonstrate several applications of LCPCF, such as polarizer-free displays, and human semen sensing.