Organization of single-walled carbon nanotubes wrapped with liquid-crystalline pi-conjugated oligomers

Two oligo(phenylenevinylene)s with cyanobiphenyl terminates were synthesized as non-covalent modifiers of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The wrapping of SWNTs with synthesized oligomers enhanced the dispersibility in CHCl3 by the dissociation of SWNT bundle structures. It was found that the addition of oligomers caused self-organized precipitation from a homogeneous dispersed solution of SWNT complexes. The self-organized precipitates exhibited thermotropic liquid-crystalline