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Fluorinated liquid crystalline surfactants for dispersion and alignment of carbon nanotubes

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Abstract

An effective and promising approach for dispersion and alignment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with the help of fluorinated liquid crystalline surfactants (FLCSs), which possess excellent affinity with CNTs and liquid crystals (LCs), is presented here. A binary mode is designed to express the dispersion of CNTs with CNTs joining the nematic matrix of FLCSs. Ultraviolet–visible spectrum and fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum are recorded to figure out the concentration of effectively dispersed CNTs by FLCSs, the concentration in chloroform reaches a maximum 1.481 mg mL−1. The miscibility between FLCSs and CNTs is analyzed by FTIR imaging system with P7 giving rise to the best miscibility. The homogeneously dispersed CNTs decrease the glass transition temperature of FLCSs by increasing the degree of freedom of the segment on FLCS to move, and enhance the thermal stability of FLCSs by increasing the decomposition temperature and the activation energy for thermal decomposition. The optical textures show that P7 increases the compatibility between LC host and CNTs. The chiral stability and electro-optical property of LC host are both optimized by CNT doping.

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Acknowledgements

The study was funded by the Education Department of Liaoning Province and the Minister of Education of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Molecular Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, 3 Wenhua Road, Shenyang, 110004, People’s Republic of China

    Pengcheng Lin, Yuehua Cong & Baoyan Zhang

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  1. Pengcheng Lin
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  2. Yuehua Cong
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  3. Baoyan Zhang
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Correspondence to Baoyan Zhang.

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Lin, P., Cong, Y. & Zhang, B. Fluorinated liquid crystalline surfactants for dispersion and alignment of carbon nanotubes. J Mater Sci 50, 4187–4199 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8969-1

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