Abstract
Hybrids comprising cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and percolated networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) may serve for the casting of hybrid materials with improved optical, mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. However, CNC-dispersed SWNTs are depleted from the chiral nematic (N*) phase and enrich the isotropic phase. Herein, we report that SWNTs dispersed by non-ionic surfactant or triblock copolymers are incorporated within the surfactant-mediated CNC mesophases. Small-angle X-ray measurements indicate that the nanostructure of the hybrid phases is only slightly modified by the presence of the surfactants, and the chiral nature of the N* phase is preserved. Cryo-TEM and Raman spectroscopy show that SWNTs networks with typical mesh size from hundreds of nanometers to microns are distributed equally between the two phases. We suggest that the adsorption of the surfactants or polymers mediates the interfacial interaction between the CNCs and SWNTs, enhancing the formation of co-existing meso-structures in the hybrid phases.
Highlights
Hybrid materials comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and liquid crystalline (LC) mesophase have been thoroughly investigated in the context of nonisotropic nano-composites [1]
Liquid suspensions of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and SWNTs can be used as colloidal inks for additive man5
Liquid suspensions of CNCs and SWNTs can be used as colloidal inks for additive novel combinations of optical, electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties [18,52,53,54]
Summary
Hybrid materials comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and liquid crystalline (LC) mesophase have been thoroughly investigated in the context of nonisotropic nano-composites [1]. The presence of SWNTs modifies the structure and properties of the LC mesophase [2] and shifts the critical concentration (or temperature) at which the phase emerges [3]. The CNCs form stable suspensions in aqueous media and above a critical volume fraction, φ*, and phases separate into a chiral nematic (N*) and optically isotropic (I) phases [6,7]. In these systems the nematic mesophase results from competition between the contribution of orientational entropy and the excluded volume to the free energy, as described by models based on mean-field excluded volume potential in a thermal solvent by Onsager and
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