Carbon-based liquid crystals: art and science

Synthetic carbon allotropes such as fullerene, carbon nanotubes and graphene exhibit a liquid crystalline phase behaviour upon appropriate chemical functionalisation and/or physical dispersion in suitable media. This article deals with both thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystalline phases obtained from these isotropic and anisotropic carbon building blocks along with the carbonaceous mesophase. Different strategies adopted to obtain such ordered fluid phases of carbon are summarised and their subsequent exploitation in the fabrication of carbon-based materials and devices are highlighted. Fluid phase assembly of carbon materials seems to be very promising in the context of high-performance films, fibres and carbon electronics.