Formation of polymer structure by thermally-induced phase separation in a dye-doped liquid crystal cell

A dye-doped LC/polymer light shutter with a polymer structure that is formed using the thermally-induced phase separation (TIPS) method is demonstrated. The TIPS method relies on the difference in solubility between thermoplastic polymer and solvent, and thus there is no degradation of the dye during the fabrication process. The light shutter can be fabricated quickly because the optical properties are not affected by the cooling time. The fabricated TIPS cell shows a superior black color with excellent optical properties, such as a low haze value of 0.5% in the transparent state, and a high haze value of 99.1% in the opaque state. This result can be applied for the high image quality of see-through displays using organic light-emitting diodes.