Two-step electrical percolation in nematic liquid crystals filled with multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Percolation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in liquid crystals (LCs) opens the way for a unique class of anisotropic hybrid materials with a complex dielectric constant widely controlled by CNT concentration. Percolation in such systems is commonly described as a one-step process starting at a very low loading of CNTs. In the present study the two-step percolation was observed in the samples of thickness 250 μm obtained by pressing the suspension between two substrates. The first threshold concentration, C(n)(p(1))∼10(-4) wt.%, was sensitive to temperature and phase state of LC, while the second one, C(n)(p(2))∼10(-1) wt.%, remained practically unchanged in the temperature tests. The two-stage nature of percolation was explained on a base of mean-field theory assuming core-shell structure of CNTs.