Low energy consumption and fast electro-optic switching in polymer-confined ferroelectric nematics

Polymer-embedded liquid crystals (LCs) play a pivotal role in smart applications, enabling precise tunability over electrooptical properties.However, high energy consumption in conventional LC-polymeric systems limits their efficiency in sustainable and environmental protection technologies.Reducing driving voltage without compromising mechanical and electro-optical performance remains an unresolved challenge.Here, we demonstrate a polymer-confined ferroelectric nematic (N F ) liquid crystal system, polymerized with mesogenic and non-mesogenic monomers under an electric field.The effective multidomain polymer structure exploits the intriguing properties of the N F LC and generates a highly scattered state with an excellent contrast ratio in the N F phase.Electric field-controlled reorientation of directors leads to a transparent state at a very small voltage.The system demonstrates the advantages of a low driving voltage, sub-millisecond switching time with negligible hysteresis, and improved durability, promoting applications in energy-saving smart windows.This work reveals valuable insights into leveraging N F LCs and tailoring polymer networks to advance the performance of electro-optic devices.