Effects of carbon nanotubes on electro-optical characteristics of liquid crystal cell driven by in-plane field

Homogeneously aligned nematic liquid crystal (LC) cells doped with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) driven by an in-plane field were fabricated and their electro-optic characteristics were investigated. The effective cell retardation values showed no difference between doped and undoped LC cells in the absence of electric field. However, in the presence of electric field, it was smaller in the CNT-doped cell than in the undoped cell, resulting in the decrease of transmittance. Furthermore, the CNT-doped cell exhibited a slight increase in the driving voltage due to the increase of the twist elastic constant (K22) and the decrease in the decay response time due to the decrease in the rotational viscosity (γ) and γ K22 compared to the undoped cell.