Electrospun fibers of liquid crystal mixtures

Abstract

Electrospinning is a powerful and promising technique in production of nano-materials namely nano-fibers. Nano-sized materials show properties apart from their macroscopic/bulk sizes, and enable us to fabricate materials that could be designed as functional composites of different kinds of materials. We electrospun to form core-sheath nanofibers composed of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) sheath with a core of widely used nematic liquid crystals (6CB and 8CB) by blending them in various ratios. The nano-fibers were fabricated in different conditions regarding the feeding rate and electrospinning voltage. The physical properties were investigated. Optical properties revealed the birefringence of the nano-fibers which is an important property for the light modulating devices. The thicknesses of the nano-fibers were determined from SEM images and the distribution of the thickness was shown in a histogram. The thermal studies put forward the N-I transition temperatures of the liquid crystal/PAN nano-fibers, that the temperatures were in compliance with that of liquid crystals. It can control light modulation by tuning such liquid crystal/fiber material known to be usable in optoelectronics.