Stabilization of liquid crystal dispersions with acrylamide copolymers

The effects of hydrophobia moieties (styrene and methyl methacrylate) on the stability of a liquid crystal (LC, E-7)-in-water dispersion stabilized by copolymers of hydrophilic acrylamide with hydrophobic monomers have been studied in terms of nematic curvilinear aligned phase (NCAP) system. It was observed that the preferential adsorption hydrophobic moieties onto LC droplet surface resulted in steric stabilization of the dispersion, due to increasing the interfacial tension of LC and reducing the LC droplet size. According to the interfacial tension, coalescence time, and sedimented layer thickness measurements, it was proposed that the presence of hydrophobic moieties allows to form the apolar microenvironment in the round of LC droplet and finally reduces the anchoring effect between LC and the polymeric wall.