Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol.435, 823-823, 2005
Visco-elastic properties of nematic-MoS2 nanotubes mixtures
We investigated experimentally the viscoelastic properties of MoS2 nanotubes mixed with liquid crystal 8CB in the nematic phase. The MoS2 nanotubes were dispersed with ultra-sound in ethanol and then mixed with liquid crystal; then the ethanol was evaporated. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was used to measure the viscoelastic coefficients of the mixture in its nematic phase from the SmA-N up to the N-I phase transition. The relaxation time T of orientational fluctuations depends on the concentration of dispersed MoS2 nanotubes in liquid crystal, temperature and orientation of the director. By measuring the dependence of T as a function of the scattering wave vector q, the ratio K-1/eta(1) and K-3/eta(3) were obtained (K-i - Frank elastic constants, eta(i) - effective viscosities). Comparison of the obtained results with the values of K-i/eta(i) of pure 8CB liquid crystal shows that the ratios K-1/eta(1) and K-3/eta(3) decrease with increasing concentration of the MoS2 nanotubes.
Keywords:alignment;dynamic light scattering;liquid crystal;mixture;nanotubes;orientational fluctuations