Carbon nanotube doped liquid crystal OCB cells: physical and electro-optical properties

We report single-wall carbon nanotube (CNT) doped liquid crystal materials which show significant improvement in the response time for optical controlled birefringence (OCB) cells. Four different types of liquid crystals (LCs) were chosen to mix with CNTs and they demonstrated similar results in improving the response time. Experimental results show that the anchoring energy at alignment layers has been changed by CNT doping. CNTs were attracted to the alignment layer and modified the property of the surface. The anchoring enhancement is due to the pi-pi electron stacking between the CNTs, LC molecules and alignment layers.