Two types of photoinitiators were synthesized: (1) a alpha,omega-telechelic oligomeric photoinitiator, by the reaction of poly(propylene glycol) diglycidylether (PPGDGE) and 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-1-one (Darocur 1173), and (2) a polymeric photoinitiator, by copolymerization of a monomer that had a liquid crystalline property, 4-[omega-(2-methylpropenoyloxy)decanoxy]-4'-cyanobiphenyl, with a vinyl monomer that had a photosensitive group. For comparison, low-molecular-weight (low-MW) photoinitiator (Darocur 1173) also was used. Attention was directed to the structural effect of the photoinitiators on the electro-optical properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film in which the LC phase occupied a major volume (80 wt % of the composite film). For the preparation of PDLC films by the polymerization-induced phase separation method, the optimum UV-curing temperature was observed at 50 degrees C, a temperature slightly higher than the cloud temperature (T-cloud) of the low-MW LC/matrix-forming material mixture. It was found that the electro-optical performance of the PDLC cell fabricated with the oligomeric or polymeric photoinitiator was better than that of the PDLC cell made with a low-MW photoinitiator (Darocur 1173), exhibiting lower driving voltage (V-90) and higher contrast ratio under identical formulation conditions. Oligomeric photoinitiators allowed premature phase separation between the LC and matrix phases, resulting in relatively pure LC-rich phases. For the polymeric photoinitiator, incorporation of mesogenic moieties into the photoinitiator resulted in not only a well-defined LC/matrix morphology but also in low driving voltage (V-90) because of reduced friction at the LC/matrix interfaces. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.