Eur. Phys. J. E (2014) 37: 68
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2014-14068-3

Regular Article

Optical transmission of nematic liquid crystal 5CB doped by single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes

¹ Institute for Scintillation Materials, NAS of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine
² Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine
³ Institute of Biocolloidal Chemistry named after F.D. Ovcharenko, NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

^* e-mail: lebovka@gmail.com

Received: 10 May 2014
Revised: 17 June 2014
Accepted: 10 July 2014
Published online: 13 August 2014

Abstract

Comparative studies of optical transmission of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), dispersed in nematic liquid crystal matrix 5CB, were carried out. The data evidence violations of Beer-Lambert-Bouguer (BLB) law both in cell thickness and concentration dependencies. The most striking is the fact that optical transmission dependencies for SWCNTs and MWCNTs were quite different in the nematic phase, but they were practically indistinguishable in the isotropic phase. Monte Carlo simulations of the impact of aggregation on direct transmission and violation of BLB law were also done. The results were discussed accounting for the tortuous shape of CNTs, their physical properties and aggregation, as well as strong impact of perturbations of the nematic 5CB structure inside coils and in the vicinity of CNT aggregates.