Self-assembly and antistatic property of poly(styrene sulfonic acid)-based graphene oxide liquid crystal compounds

Series of poly(styrene sulphonic acid)-based graphene oxide liquid crystals (GOLCs) were synthesised by use of graphene oxide (GO), poly(styrene sulphonic acid), cholesteryl-containing liquid crystal and pyridinyl-based compounds in a self-assembly process. The chemical structure, liquid crystalline behaviour and antistatic property were investigated using appropriate analytical instrument and various experimental techniques. The GOLCs exhibited smectic A phase on heating cycles. The antistatic property was performed by use of a four-probe measuring instrument at different humidity conditions after a liquid crystalline ordering structure were well developed in these GOLC films. All the GOLC films show surface resistivity on the same order of magnitude (kΩ sq−1) at different relative humidity, suggesting that the humidity of the environment is not dominant in the antistatic property. In the microstructure, the GOLC layers are aligned in a liquid-crystalline ordering structure, a hydrogen bonding area of the sulphonic acid- and carboxylic acid-pyridyl linkages around GO is formed continuously without interruption, leading to conduction pathways from the interior cores to the whole surface. It indicates that antistatic property of these GOLCs is not completely dependent on the surface humidity derived from water absorption.