Nonadditive changes in conductivity of micro PDLC under the influence of carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

Investigated in this work has been the effect of impurities – magnetic nanoparticles (MN) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) – separately and together on morphology and dielectric properties of nematic liquid crystal 6CHBT dispersed in polyvinyl alcohol (PDLC). It has been shown that the nanoparticles and nanotubes together change the morphology of PDLC practically in the same manner as every type of impurity singly. The impurities influence also additively on the permittivity at low frequencies and electron component of the conductivity in the polymer matrix. We have found that when MN and MWNT act jointly their ion component of the conductivity exceeds the total changes in conductivity by six times greater than when each type of impurity acts singly. The most probable reason for this nonadditive change in conductivity can be aggregation of these nanoparticles.