Influence of carbon nanotubes on the dielectric and electro-optical properties of a proto-type ferroelectric mixture used in display devices

Doping of different concentrations of single and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is found to influence considerably the dielectric and electro-optical properties of a room temperature FLC mixture. However, the comparative change of such properties between the two types of CNT doped systems is marginal. Dispersion of CNTs produces not enough change in the molecular ordering as revealed by the small decrease in the phase transition temperatures and tilt angles. Spontaneous polarization is also found to decrease due to the screening of the molecular dipole moments by the π–π electron system of the CNTs. Both the dielectric increments and absorption strengths are found to decrease remarkably due to the trapping of ions by the CNTs. Trapping also decreases ac and dc conductivities and the local electric field which in turn fastens the switching time considerably making the CNT-doped systems more suitable for FLC-based applications.