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Dispersion and Alignment of Carbon Nanotubes in Liquid Crystalline Polymers and Elastomers
Author(s) -
Ji Yan,
Huang Yan Y.,
Rungsawang Rakchanok,
Terentjev Eugene M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.200904103
Subject(s) - carbon nanotube , materials science , elastomer , polymer , dispersion (optics) , liquid crystalline , nanotechnology , polymer science , composite number , liquid crystal , composite material , optoelectronics , optics , physics
A new main‐chain liquid crystalline polymer with pyrene end‐caps is developed to greatly facilitate dispersion of carbon nanotubes in organic solvents. It also helps stabilize nanotubes in the bulk of a liquid crystalline elastomer matrix, where the tubes are aligned along the director axis. We use THz spectroscopy to characterize nanotube alignment and demonstrate the photo‐actuation response of the composite.