Nematic Anchoring on Carbon Nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how carbon nanotubes influence nematic liquid crystals, revealing strong anchoring effects that create responsive domains affecting dielectric properties and phase behavior.

Contribution

It demonstrates the strong anchoring energy between CNTs and nematic LC, leading to stabilized pseudo-nematic domains and enhanced dielectric anisotropy in the isotropic phase.

Findings

CNTs follow the director field due to strong anchoring

Pseudo-nematic domains stabilize in the isotropic phase

Large dielectric hysteresis observed under electric fields

Abstract

A dilute suspension of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a nematic liquid crystal (LC) does not disturb the LC director. Due to a strong LC-CNT anchoring energy and structural symmetry matching, CNT long axis follows the director field, possessing enhanced dielectric anisotropy. This strong anchoring energy stabilizes local pseudo-nematic domains, resulting in non-zero dielectric anisotropy in the isotropic phase. These anisotropic domains respond to external electric fields and show intrinsic frequency response. The presence of these domains makes the isotropic phase field-responsive, giving rise to a large dielectric hysteresis effect.