The present invention is to provide a laminate that includes a polarizer and a photo alignment film and is excellent in the moisture-heat resistance of the polarizer, a method of producing a laminate, a polarizing plate, a liquid crystal display device, and an organic EL display device including the laminate. The laminate of the present invention includes a polarizer, and a photo alignment film that is adjacently arranged on the polarizer, the photo alignment film is a layer formed by bringing a composition for forming a photo alignment film into direct contact with a surface of the polarizer, and the composition for forming a photo alignment film contains Compound A having a photo-aligned group and Compound B having a crosslinking group, or Compound C having a photo-aligned group and a crosslinking group.

With the use of a photoalignment film, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display device capable of maintaining a favorable voltage holding ratio and reducing or preventing image sticking, stains, and a decrease in contrast ratio for a long time not only in a room-temperature environment but also in a high-temperature environment; and a method for producing such a liquid crystal display device. The liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes paired substrates; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the substrates; a photoalignment film disposed between at least one of the substrates and the liquid crystal layer; and a polymer layer disposed between the photoalignment film and the liquid crystal layer, wherein the polymer layer has a structure derived from a specific epoxy-based monomer and a structure derived from a specific curing agent.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device whose liquid crystal layer is prevented from undergoing a phase transition while the device is on. A liquid crystal display device according to the present invention includes a first substrate having a thin-film transistor element, a heatsink film overlapping the thin-film transistor element, a first alignment film, a liquid crystal layer, and a second substrate in order. The heatsink film contains a liquid-crystalline polymer as the polymerized form of a liquid-crystalline monomer and also contains inorganic fine particles, and the liquid-crystalline polymer is aligned in-plane with respect to the heatsink film. Preferably, the liquid-crystalline monomer is represented by a specified chemical formula.

An object of the present invention is to provide a binder composition which is excellent in upper layer coatability after being formed as a binder layer and can improve liquid crystal aligning properties, a binder layer, an optical laminate, and an image display device. A binder composition according to the embodiment of the present invention is a binder composition containing: a binder; a polymerization initiator; a surfactant; and a photo-alignment agent, in which the surfactant and the photo-alignment agent include functional groups capable of hydrogen bonding with each other, and the functional group capable of hydrogen bonding included in any one of the surfactant or the photo-alignment agent is a proton-donating functional group, and the functional group included in the other of the surfactant or the photo-alignment agent is a proton-accepting functional group.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device that includes a retardation layer with excellent thermal stability and suppresses a decrease in contrast ratio caused by scattering even when the retardation layer has been formed by polymerizing reactive monomers. The liquid crystal display device includes a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer held between the substrates. At least one of the substrates includes a retardation layer that contains a polymer of at least one type of monomer. The at least one type of monomer includes a photo-alignment monomer represented by a certain formula.

Disclosed are a thermal crosslink material, a manufacture method of a liquid crystal display panel, and a liquid crystal display panel. A structural formula of the thermal crosslink material is ##STR00001##
wherein A is ##STR00002##
B is ##STR00003##
and R is a linear or chain branched alkyl having 5-20 C atoms, wherein one or more CH.sub.2 in the alkyl is substituted with phenyl, cycloalkyl, O, CONH, COO, OCO, CO, or CHCH group, or one or more H atoms in the first group are substituted with F atom or Cl atom; a specific crosslink material may be one of ##STR00004##
Molecules of the thermal crosslink material crosslink together to form a polymer having a crosslinked network, and groups A and B can be anchored on a substrate surface. The branch R provides an effect of vertical alignment and can form alignment films.

Disclosed are a thermal crosslink material, a manufacture method of a liquid crystal display panel, and a liquid crystal display panel. A structural formula of the thermal crosslink material is ##STR00001##
wherein A is ##STR00002##
B is ##STR00003##
and R is a linear or chain branched alkyl having 5-20 C atoms, wherein one or more CH.sub.2 in the alkyl is substituted with phenyl, cycloalkyl, O, CONH, COO, OCO, CO, or CHCH group, or one or more H atoms in the first group are substituted with F atom or Cl atom; a specific crosslink material may be one of ##STR00004##
Molecules of the thermal crosslink material crosslink together to form a polymer having a crosslinked network, and groups A and B can be anchored on a substrate surface. The branch R provides an effect of vertical alignment and can form alignment films.

There are provided a phase difference control component, which can realize a liquid crystal display device having a wide angle of visibility, has excellent phase difference symmetry and can realize optical compensation, and a process for producing the same. The phase difference control component comprises a base material; and a phase difference control layer formed of a fixed liquid crystal material provided on the base material through an aligning film and is characterized in that the angle of liquid crystal molecules, present at the interface of the aligning film and the phase difference control layer, to the base material being substantially 0 (zero) degree.

A liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal layer made of a cured product formed by irradiating a liquid crystal composition disposed between a pair of substrates provided with electrodes with ultraviolet light from an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus and at least one of the substrates being provided with a liquid crystal alignment film to vertically align liquid crystal, where the liquid crystal composition contains a curable resin, a bifunctional monomer, a compound of the following formula [1-1a], a compound of the following formula [2-1a] and a monomer having at least one polar group selected from a hydroxy group, a carboxy group and a phosphoric acid group, where the liquid crystal alignment film is obtainable from a liquid crystal alignment treating agent containing a polymer having a side chain structure of the following formula [4-1a] or formula [4-2a] ##STR00001## ##STR00002## ##STR00003## ##STR00004##

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device that includes a retardation layer with excellent thermal stability and suppresses a decrease in contrast ratio caused by scattering even when the retardation layer has been formed by polymerizing reactive monomers. The liquid crystal display device includes a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer held between the substrates. At least one of the substrates includes a retardation layer that contains a polymer of at least one type of monomer. The at least one type of monomer includes a photo-alignment monomer represented by a certain formula.