Anomalous selective reflection in cholesteryl oleyl carbonate - nematic 5CB mixtures and effects of their doping by single-walled carbon nanotubes

TL;DR

This study investigates the anomalous optical and phase transition behaviors in cholesteryl oleyl carbonate and 5CB liquid crystal mixtures, including effects of single-walled carbon nanotube doping, revealing unique molecular arrangements and potential for composite materials.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new model explaining molecular arrangements in COC+5CB mixtures and reports on the effects of nanotube doping on their optical properties.

Findings

Cholesteric to smectic-A transition temperature increases with 5CB dilution in certain concentration ranges.

Reciprocal pitch varies linearly with 5CB concentration, contrary to typical behavior.

Doping with carbon nanotubes has minimal impact on the helical pitch and reflection peaks.

Abstract

Liquid crystalline (LC) mixtures of cholesteryl oleyl carbonate (COC) and 4-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB), as well as dispersions of single-walled carbon nanotubes (NTs) in these mixtures, were studied by means of selective reflection measurements, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical microscopy. The relative mass of COC in a mixture X was varied between 0.4 and 1.0, the temperature range of measurements was between 284 K and 314 K, and concentration of NTs was fixed at 0.1 %. Two important anomalies were noted: (1) the cholesteric to smectic-A transition temperature increased on dilution of COC by non-smectogenic 5CB in the concentration range 0.8<X<1, and (2) the reciprocal pitch vs. 5CB concentration dependence was essentially linear, in contrast to behaviour commonly observed in nematic-cholesteric mixtures. A model of molecular arrangement in the mixtures, accounting for the possibility of integration of 5CB dimers and monomers between COC molecules and presumably explaining the experimental data, was proposed. The helical pitch of the cholesteric mixtures remained practically unchanged upon doping by NTs, and only slight widening of the selective reflection peaks was noted. The obtained results allow considering the COC+5CB mixtures as promising matrices for composite materials on the basis of liquid crystals and carbon nanotubes.