Vertical alignment of liquid crystals with zinc oxide nanorods.

The alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods grown vertically on an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer has been investigated as an alternative alignment layer for the vertical alignment of LCs. We found that the degree of vertical alignment strongly depends on the length and density of the vertically aligned ZnO nanorods on the ITO layer and also that a uniform vertical alignment using the proposed structure can be achieved. Finally, vertically aligned LC cells with ZnO nanorods were fabricated and their electro-optical properties were evaluated and compared with those of a conventional vertically aligned LC cell with a polymer alignment layer.