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Comparative study of carbon nanotubes- and fullerenes-doped liquid crystal for different electrophoretic parameters

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Abstract

This research focuses on the study of different electrokinetic parameters of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and fullerene aggregates in liquid crystal (LC) host medium, which are investigated in the homogeneously aligned nematic LC cells driven by in-plane field. The colloidal CNTs in LC medium are observed to move towards the negative electrodes whereas the fullerenes in LC medium are observed to move towards positive electrode at low frequencies. We propose a model to estimate the charge and zeta potential of colloidal particles by incorporating both the dielectrophoresis and electrophoresis forces in order to probe the reason of moving the colloidal particles in opposite direction. Interestingly, charge and zeta potential values on CNTs and fullerenes estimated from given model were positive and negative, respectively. The CNTs and fullerenes at high frequency and field are found to stretch along the direction of electric field. The CNTs dispersed whereas fullerenes start to move in perpendicular direction to the applied electric field with increasing electric field at high frequency.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India under the scheme SERC Fast Track Young Scientist Project SR/FTP/PS-037/2011 entitled “Electrical and electrodynamical studies of carbon nanotubes dispersed in liquid crystal” at the Nanotechnology Application Centre, University of Allahabad, India. One of authors (SHL) would like to thank financial support funded by the Brain Korea 21 PLUS project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanotechnology Application Centre, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, 211002, India

    Anoop Kumar Srivastava & Avinash C. Pandey

  2. Physics Department, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, 211002, India

    Ram Kripal

  3. Department of BIN Fusion Technology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk, 561-756, Korea

    Seung Hee Lee

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  1. Anoop Kumar Srivastava
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  2. Avinash C. Pandey
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  3. Ram Kripal
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  4. Seung Hee Lee
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Correspondence to Anoop Kumar Srivastava or Seung Hee Lee.

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Srivastava, A.K., Pandey, A.C., Kripal, R. et al. Comparative study of carbon nanotubes- and fullerenes-doped liquid crystal for different electrophoretic parameters. J Mater Sci 49, 1695–1700 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7854-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7854-z

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