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.
A switchable surface using a liquid crystal and polymer composite film (LCPCF) based on phase separation
between liquid crystals (LC) and polymers after photopolymerization is developed recently. The wettability of
LCPCF is electrically tunable because of the orientation of liquid crystal directors anchored among the
polymer grains under an in-planed electric field. A water droplet on the top of LCPCF can be manipulated
under an inhomogeneous electric field on the LCPCF owning to the wettability gradient. The dynamics of a
droplet of human sperms on the LCPCF is demonstrated as well. Three motions of sperm droplets are
observed: the droplet collapse and the droplet stretch,. We found that the dynamics, concentrations, and
activities of spermatozoa, affect the motions of a sperm droplet. The potential applications of LCPCF are
polarizer-free displays, liquid lenses, and the microfluidic device in assisted reproductive technology (ART)
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