title: Electroactive superelongation of carbon nanotube aggregates in liquid crystal medium.
abstract: We report an effect of superelongation of carbon nanotube (CNT) aggregates driven by the electric field in a liquid crystal (LC) medium. The CNT aggregates started to elongate above a certain threshold field and sustained the elongation up to nearly 400% in the linear region with a large electroactive constant of 70 (V/microm)-1. The original morphology of the CNT aggregates was restored upon removal of the field. The elongation was fully reversible below a certain breakdown field, irrespective of the nematic or isotropic phase of the LC medium. The overall process involved (i) the alignment of CNT aggregates to increase the dipole energy of aggregates in the presence of the bias voltage, (ii) stretching of the CNTs by sliding-out from the bundles, and (iii) the entropic elasticity that restores the randomly entangled CNT network of the original aggregates after suppression of the bias voltage.
authors.affiliation: School of Advanced Materials Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Chonju, Chonbuk 561-756, Korea.
authors.forename: Seok Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Kyung Ah
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Seok Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Hee Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Kay Hyeok
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Chang Woon
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Nah
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pribat
authors.forename: Seung Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation / Q000528:radiation effects; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon