Dispersion and Alignment of Carbon Nanotubes in Liquid Crystalline Polymers and Elastomers

A new main-chain liquid crystalline polymer with pyrene end-caps is developed to greatly facilitate dispersion of carbon nanotubes in organic solvents. It also helps stabilize nanotubes in the bulk of a liquid-crystalline elastomer matrix, where the tubes are aligned along the director axis We use terahertz spectroscopy to characterize nanotube alignment and demonstrate the photoactuation response of the composite