Amorphous Mn₃O₄ Nanocages with High‐Efficiency Charge Transfer for Enhancing Electro‐Optic Properties of Liquid Crystals

Abstract Improving electro‐optic properties is essential for fabricating high‐quality liquid crystal displays. Herein, by doping amorphous Mn₃O₄ octahedral nanocages (a‐Mn₃O₄ ONCs) into a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) matrix E7, outstanding electro‐optic properties of the blend are successfully obtained. At a doping concentration of 0.03 wt%, the maximum decreases of threshold voltage (V_th) and saturation voltage (V_sat) are 34% and 31%, respectively, and the increase of contrast (C_on) is 160%. This remarkable electro‐optic activity can be attributed to high‐efficiency charge transfer within the a‐Mn₃O₄ ONCs NLC system, caused by metastable electronic states of a‐Mn₃O₄ ONCs. To the best of our knowledge, such remarkable decreased electro‐optic activity is observed for the first time from doping amorphous semiconductors, which could provide a new pathway to develop excellent energy‐saving amorphous materials and improve their potential applications in electro‐optical devices.