Improved dielectric and electro-optical parameters of nematic liquid crystal doped with magnetic nanoparticles

This study investigates the effect of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) on the weakly polar nematic liquid crystal (NLC). Different parameters of dielectric data were measured for both the homeotropic and planar aligned samples as a function of frequency and temperature and the substantial changes have been noticed for the doped systems. Dielectric permittivity has been increased after the dispersion of magnetic NPs in the pure NLC. Dielectric anisotropy has also been influenced by incorporating the magnetic NPs with the NLC molecules. These results were attributed to the dipole-dipole interaction between the magnetic nanoparticles and nematic liquid crystal molecules. Electro-optical study indicated the faster rise time and fall time of the doped systems as compare to pure NLC. Threshold voltage has been calculated and found to be decreased for the doped systems. Moreover, we have also calculated the rotational viscosity and the splay elastic constant for pure and the doped systems. Both the rotational viscosity and splay elastic constant of the doped systems are found to be considerably lower than those of pure NLC. Change in these properties has been explained on the basis of molecular disturbances created by the interaction between the magnetic nanoparticle and LC director. This study reveals that the inclusion of magnetic NPs in weakly polar NLC can be useful to enhance the basic properties of the weakly polar NLC and make it a promising material for many display applications

Dual photoluminescence and charge transport in an alkoxy biphenyl benzoate ferroelectric liquid crystalline-graphene oxide composite

An optimized concentration of graphene oxide (GO) has been dispersed in a ferroelectric liquid crystalline (FLC) material namely 4-(octyloxy)-[1,1-biphenyl]-4-yl 4-(heptan-2-yloxy)benzoate, to prepare a FLC-GO composite. Temperature dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurements for the FLC-GO composite were conducted between 30-100 degrees C. We observed a superlinear increase in the PL with increasing temperature. The time resolved luminescence study exhibits a bi-exponential decay time with a shorter life time for the FLC-GO composite and confirms the surface energy transfer from GO to FLC. Charge transport and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics for the FLC-GO composite have been investigated at ambient conditions by using current sensing atomic force microscopy. For the FLC-GO composite, critical diode like nonlinear I-V curves have been obtained in which the charge transport is assigned to the thermally active intermolecular hopping at room temperature. The FLC material yields ionic charge mobilities of 1.45 x 10(-5), 1.26 x 10(-5) and 9.83 x 10(-6) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) in isotropic, chiral nematic (N*) and chiral smectic C (SmC*) phases. The dispersion of GO significantly enhances the ionic mobility in the composite which was observed to be 2.71 x 10(-4), 2.69 x 10(-4) and 2.65 x 10(-4) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) for the aforementioned phase sequence. Physical interactions between GO and FLC molecules were confirmed by FTIR and polarized optical microscopy. In-plane coupling between the orientation of GO and the long molecular axis of the FLC molecules remarkably enhances the band intensity of C?O, ?C-H, COO, C-O and C-H vibrations. The size of multi-domain fan texture in the SmC* phase has been enhanced after the dispersion of GO. The cobweb like networking in the oily streaks texture of the N* phase confirms the interesting molecular architecture via planar anchoring between FLC molecules and GO. This work opens new avenues towards applications in pico-ampere current-regulated electronic devices and opto-electronics