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Published on: February 19, 2016
Preparing a liquid crystalline dispersion of carbon nanotubes with high aspect ratio
Keiko Kojima1, Nodoka Kosugi1,2, Hirokuni Jintoku1
1Nano Carbon Device Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8565, Japan.
Abstract:
We successfully prepared a surfactant-assisted carbon nanotube (CNT) liquid crystal (LC) dispersion with double-walled CNTs (DWCNTs) having a high aspect ratio (≈1378). Compared to dispersions of single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) with lower aspect ratio, the transition concentrations from isotropic phase to biphasic state, and from biphasic state to nematic phase are lowered, which is consistent with the predictions of the Onsager theory. An aligned DWCNT film was prepared from the DWCNT dispersion by a simple bar-coating method. Regardless of the higher aspect ratio, the order parameter obtained from the film is comparable to that from SWCNTs with lower aspect ratios. This finding implies that precise control of the film formation process, including a proper selection of substrate and deposition/drying steps, is crucial to maximize the CNT-LC utilization.
