Optical Properties of Polymer Dispersed Liquid Cryrtalline Composites Doped by Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract
The doping effect of carbon nanotubes having different сomposition and packing of graphite layers introduced into polymer-dispersed liquid crystal composites was studied. The introduction of carbon nanotubes is accompanied by a change in the structure of the composites, which is reflected in the change in the size of liquid crystalline droplets as compared with the reference sample without nanotubes. Light transmission of such composites in the electric field is determined by the type of carbon nanotubes and their concentration. Modification of carbon nanotubes by nitrogen (N-CNTs) is accompanied by the increase of the light transmission coefficient, which can be associated with a decrease in the size of carbon agglomerates in the film, as well as an improvement in the interaction of N-CNTs with the liquid crystal–polymer medium due to increase in their structure imperfectness.

Keywords: multiwall carbon nanotubes, nitrogen, polymer dispersed liquid crystals, optical properties