Quantification of ion trapping effect of carbon nanomaterials in liquid crystals

摘要

We have determined the ion trapping coefficients of carbon nanomaterials in liquid crystals through the analysis of capacitance-voltage response. The ion trapping coefficient is defined as the ability to trap impurity ions for each carbon nanomaterial and can be used as a referable value to select proper carbon nanomaterials as dopants in liquid crystals. The characterized nanomaterials include multi-wall carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon nanocoils, single-wall carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, respectively. It is found that the multi-wall carbon nanotubes with a tube length of 5-15 μm have the largest ion trapping coefficient and hence serve as the best dopant to suppress the liquid crystal hysteresis.