Carbon nanotube dispersion in nematic liquid crystals: An overview

The presence of ions in liquid crystals is one of the grand challenges that hinder the application of liquid crystals in various devices, which include advanced 3-D and flexible displays, tunable lenses, etc. Not only do they compromise the overall performance of liquid crystal devices, ions are also responsible for slow response, image sticking, and image flickering, as well as many other negative effects. Even highly purified liquid crystal materials can get contaminated during the manufacturing process. Moreover, liquid crystals can degrade over time and generate ions. All of these factors raise the bar for their quality control, and increase the manufacturing cost of liquid crystal products. A decade of dedicated research has paved the way to the solution of the issues mentioned above through merging liquid crystals and nanotechnology. Nano-objects (guests) that are embedded in the liquid crystals (hosts) can trap ions, which decreases the ion concentration and electrical conductivity, and improves the electro-optical response of the host. In this paper, we (i) review recently published works reporting the effects of nanoscale dopants on the electrical properties of liquid crystals; and (ii) identify the most promising inorganic and organic nanomaterials suitable to capture ions in liquid crystals.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/5/4/501/pdf

Nano-Objects and Ions in Liquid Crystals: Ion Trapping Effect and Related Phenomena

The present study focuses on the ionic behaviour in nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed nematic liquid crystal. Dielectric spectroscopy has been used to investigate the behaviour of ions in suspension of NPs and liquid crystal (LC). Ionic concentration, diffusion coefficient, activation energy and mobility have been calculated from dielectric data. It is found that ion concentration increases initially and then it decreases with increasing concentration of NPs in suspension. The initial increase in ion concentration is attributed to the insertion of more ions due to impurities of TiO2 NPs and various other reasons. Temperature dependence of diffusion constant for different loading of TiO2 NPs is also investigated. The activation energy of NPs dispersed LC is found to be lower than the pristine one and it decreases with increasing concentration of NPs. The decreasing DC conductivity with increasing NPs concentration is attributed to the hindered or restricted motion of ions in the suspension. It is proposed that...

Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles dispersion on ionic behaviour in nematic liquid crystal

In the present work TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) have been dispersed into three different nematic liquid crystals (2020, 1823A and 1550C) in different concentration. The value of the birefringence (Δn) has been calculated by the transmitted intensity method at a 632.8 nm wavelength. NLC 2020 used in the present study is a high birefringent material (Δn = 0.44), NLC 1550C is a low birefringent material (Δn = 0.067) and NLC 1823A is a mid birefringent material (Δn = 0.14). An increased value of birefringence has been found after dispersion of TiO2 NPs in all three NLCs but this increment depends upon the concentration of the dopant material, temperature range and chemical character of the mixtures. It is suggested that this LC materials can be applicable in making of phase shifters, compensators and many more photonic devices.

Analysis of birefringence property of three different nematic liquid crystals dispersed with TiO 2 nanoparticles

Surface ablation efficiency and quality of fs lasers in single-pulse mode, fs lasers in burst mode, and ns lasers

In continuation of our earlier work (Pande et al. in Appl Phys A 122:217–226, 2016), we report the results of dielectric and electro-optical properties of pure MBBA and PSLC (polymer PiBMA dispersed in MBBA) systems. The polymer networks domains formed are found to be anisotropic and are oriented in the direction of electric field for both the planar and homeotropic alignment cells. The dielectric anisotropy, optical anisotropy, response time, threshold voltage, splay elastic constant and rotational viscosity were observed for both the LC and PSLC systems with electric field. The liquid crystal properties are affected significantly with increasing concentration of polymer in pure LC material. It has been observed that the polymer networks interaction plays a major role in changing the properties of PSLC system. The effect of dielectric loss and dielectric permittivity on both pure LC and PSLC systems is also discussed.

Dielectric and electro-optical properties of polymer-stabilized liquid crystal. II. Polymer PiBMA dispersed in MBBA

In this work, we have reported the temperature dependence of birefringence for pure liquid crystals (LCs) and liquid crystal-polymer composite (LC-PC) systems. The enhancement of the electro-optica...

Enhancement of birefringence of liquid crystals with dispersion of poly (n-butyl methacrylate) (PBMA)

Applicability of TiO2 nanoparticle towards suppression of screening effect in nematic liquid crystal

In this work, we report the results of dielectric and electro-optical properties as a function of temperature for both pure liquid crystal matrix and polymer-stabilized liquid crystal (PSLC). The threshold and saturation voltages have been determined from transmission–voltage curves. We have studied the polymer domains formation in PSLC with variation of concentration of polymer in liquid crystal matrix. It is observed that the dielectric anisotropy of PSLC is significantly influenced by the polar order present in the polymer domains environment. A delicate interplay between the orientational order of liquid crystal and polymeric domains determines the molecular orientations of PSLC with respect to the director of the LC system.

Dielectric and electro-optical properties of polymer-stabilized liquid crystal system

We study how the dye dispersion influences the properties of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC). The polarisation measurement shows the decreasing linear behaviour with the increasing concentration of dye, indicating the orientation of dye in a direction opposite to FLC molecules. Accordingly, the response time increases with increasing concentration of dye. Dielectric data clearly show the existence of two relaxation phenomena in FLC and dye–dispersed systems. The relaxation strength of the Goldstone mode, which is observed around 200 Hz, has decreased with the dispersion of dye, and the relaxation frequency of this mode shifts towards the lower frequency side, due to increase in the rotational viscosity. The second relaxation mode, observed at ∼30 KHz, arises due to the formation of domains at the surface interface. This domain mode got suppressed with the dispersion of dye into FLC.

Mukti Pande

Papers

Dielectric and electro-optical properties of polymer-stabilized liquid crystal. II. Polymer PiBMA dispersed in MBBA

Enhancement of birefringence of liquid crystals with dispersion of poly (n-butyl methacrylate) (PBMA)

Applicability of TiO2 nanoparticle towards suppression of screening effect in nematic liquid crystal

Dielectric and electro-optical properties of polymer-stabilized liquid crystal system

Effect of dye dispersion on the relaxation modes of smectic C* phase