Electrooptical properties of a nematic liquid crystal adsorbed in cellulose membrane

Electrooptical properties of liquid crystal-cellulose membrane composite sy stem have been studied for different pore sizes of the matrix. The optical transmittance of the composite films was observed. The turbidity of the sam ple can be controlled by application of electric fields exceeding some thre shold value. The threshold increases with decreasing pore diameters of the membrane, An observed hysteresis effect is due to the different relaxations of nematic molecules anchored to the surface and in the volume of the pore s. An anchoring energy for nematic liquid crystal 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphen yl (5CB) confined in Synpor membranes of about 7.10(-5) J/m(2) is estimated from the electric coherence length. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rig hts reserved.