# 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.

## Key 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.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/0907.4455