Eur. Phys. J. E (2011) 34: 34
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2011-11034-7

Effect of carbon nanotubes on the isotropic to nematic and the nematic to smectic- A phase transitions in liquid crystal and carbon nanotubes composites

Department of Physics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 01609, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

^* e-mail: kps@wpi.edu
^** e-mail: gsiannac@wpi.edu

Received: 16 December 2010
Accepted: 7 March 2011
Published online: 8 April 2011

Abstract

A high-resolution ac-calorimetric study on the weakly first-order isotropic to nematic (I-N and the continuous nematic to smectic-A (N-SmA phase transitions of the liquid crystal octyl-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) doped with well-dispersed multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a function of CNT concentrations is reported. Thermal scans were performed for all samples having CNT weight fraction from φ_w = 0.0005 to 0.0060 over a wide temperature range well above and below the two transitions in pure 8CB. Both the I-N and the N-SmA transitions evolve in character and have their transition temperatures qualitatively offset by ∼ 1.10 K lower as compared to that in pure 8CB for all 8CB+CNTs samples. The enthalpy change associated with each phase transition is essentially the same as that of pure 8CB and remains unchanged with increasing φ_w. However, there is an evidence that the thermal transport properties of the composites differ from the pure LC upon cooling below a φ_w-dependent temperature within the nematic phase. In addition, a new C_p feature is resolved for intermediate φ_wsamples that appears to be correlated to this onset temperature.