Dielectrophoresis force driven dynamics of carbon nanotubes in liquid crystal medium

Abstract

This work reports the translation motion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) dispersed in nematic liquid crystal (NLC) under an ac electric field. This effect was studied for homogeneously and vertically aligned NLC cells driven by in-plane field and vertical electric field, respectively. Long axis of the CNTs is aligned along the liquid crystal director, and above the critical field, the director of the NLC is distorted due to translation motion of CNTs in NLC. The amplitude of this translation motion decreases with increasing frequency, whereas the critical field increases with increasing frequency. We present the mechanism of translation motion of CNTs and model this observed phenomenon based on dielectrophoretic force.