An Evaluation of Surface-Active Agent Hexadecyltrimethylammonium Bromide with Vertical Self-Alignment Properties to Align Liquid Crystals for Various Cell Gap Conditions

We evaluated hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB) for liquid crystals (LCs) in layered ITO cells with various cell gap conditions. HTAB is a surfactant that can self-align vertically on the surface of indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates and induce homeotropic alignment LC molecules. For implementing RF devices LCs, we should consider limitations caused by design conditions which are different from conventional crystal displays such as gap. quantified concentration ([HTAB]) necessary to form maintain sufficiently dense vertical 5CB (4-Cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl). The required [HTAB] full-homeotropic was increased until it too large support transfer molecules, due weak anchoring nature HTAB. also showed phase-change characteristic mixture related driven light or heat. This study may help guide development new approaches designing efficient use LCs.