TY - JOUR
T1 - Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystals Actuated by a Rotary Triboelectric Nanogenerator
AU - Cheng, Ko-Ting
AU - Guo, Hengyu
AU - Hsiao, Vincent K. S.
AU - He, Jr-Hau
AU - Wang, Zhong Lin
PY - 2022/12/15
Y1 - 2022/12/15
N2 - In this work, polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) under an applied electric field are actuated by a rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (r-TENG). Conventional PDLCs generally rely on high DC voltages for on-off switching, but they can also be effectively switched on and off using an moderate high AC voltage at a frequency of several kHz with a smaller voltage. Here, we use a simple r-TENG to study the optical states of PDLC cells at different low frequencies (2–100 Hz) and simultaneous monitoring of the open-circuit voltage (Voc ) and short-circuit current (Isc ) to describe the optical performance of PDLC cells with different thicknesses. The results show that the Isc, provided by a r-TENG with a low Voc (1-2V), inside a PDLC cell is the key factor that determines its performance. Through the application of the r-TENG, we successfully demonstrate the on-off switching of nine PDLC cells connected in series with an area of 15 × 15 mm, and the power consumption is equal to that of a single PDLC cell. This research expands the potential applications of TENGs in photonics and also provides a way to improve the optical properties of PDLCs by connecting TENGs to achieve optimal performance for PDLC-related optoelectronic devices.
AB - In this work, polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) under an applied electric field are actuated by a rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (r-TENG). Conventional PDLCs generally rely on high DC voltages for on-off switching, but they can also be effectively switched on and off using an moderate high AC voltage at a frequency of several kHz with a smaller voltage. Here, we use a simple r-TENG to study the optical states of PDLC cells at different low frequencies (2–100 Hz) and simultaneous monitoring of the open-circuit voltage (Voc ) and short-circuit current (Isc ) to describe the optical performance of PDLC cells with different thicknesses. The results show that the Isc, provided by a r-TENG with a low Voc (1-2V), inside a PDLC cell is the key factor that determines its performance. Through the application of the r-TENG, we successfully demonstrate the on-off switching of nine PDLC cells connected in series with an area of 15 × 15 mm, and the power consumption is equal to that of a single PDLC cell. This research expands the potential applications of TENGs in photonics and also provides a way to improve the optical properties of PDLCs by connecting TENGs to achieve optimal performance for PDLC-related optoelectronic devices.
KW - Electric fields
KW - Nonlinear optics
KW - Optical polymers
KW - Optical switches
KW - Performance evaluation
KW - photonic devices
KW - Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals
KW - triboelectric nanogenerator
KW - Triboelectricity
KW - Velocity control
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140790251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85140790251&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1109/LPT.2022.3214502
DO - 10.1109/LPT.2022.3214502
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
SN - 1041-1135
VL - 34
SP - 1369
EP - 1372
JO - IEEE Photonics Technology Letters
JF - IEEE Photonics Technology Letters
IS - 24
ER -