Electro-optical properties of planar nematic cells impregnated with carbon nanosolids

We report electro-optical effects in planar-aligned liquid-crystal cells of pristine and doped calamitics in the presence of dc voltage. The doped cells comprise both a nematic host and a minute amount of either buckminsterfullerene or multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The voltage-transmittance and voltage-capacitance hystereses were observed from the sample cells in the range of applied dc voltage up to 8 V. Experimental evidence indicates that a nanoscale carbon dopant can affect the behavior of a nematic in terms of ion-charge effects and that doping with nanotubes can effectively reduce the driving voltage.