Sekundarni povzetek: |
In the thesis we have examined the coupling of nanoparticles and thermotropic nematic liquid crystals (NLC). The latter are regarded as cylindrically symmetrical objects, often referred to in scientific literature as rotors. In the first part of the thesis we examined the effect of NLC on the ordering of dispersed carbon nanotubes (CN). A mesoscopic model was used, in which NLC were described with the Landau-de Gennes theory with a uniaxial order parameter. Presence of CN was considered with Dois free energy, with which the lyotropic character of CN was modelled. The latter interaction considers the so-called coupling of excluded volume. A case of bi-dispersed distribution of CN was addressed in the weak anchoring limit of NLC-CN. In this limit the anisotropy of surface tension has a dominant effect on the coupling, whereas the interaction with nematic orientation ordering is relatively negligible. Depending on the strength of the NCL-CN interaction two qualitatively different behavioural regimes were detected. In the first regime, the dispersed CN have a discontinuous transition from isotropic to the orientationally ordered phase. In the second supercritical regime, the transition from one phase to the other is gradual. NCL strongly force the degree of ordering to CN, whereas the reverse ordering effect is negligible. It follows that the nematic order parameter of NCL is mostly dependant on temperature and only slightly on the concentration of CN. In the nematic ordering phase the longer CN exhibit a stronger orientation ordering. In the second part of the thesis we examined the hysteretic behaviour of NCL when cyclically changing the external ordering field. We assumed that the relatively homogeneously dispersed nanoparticles in NCL work as an orientationally random field. Such cases can be found for instance in the mixtures of NCL and aerosil nanoparticles. We focused on the determination of regimes with the qualitatively different hysteretic response. This was achieved with the changing of the strength of the nematic coupling and the strength of the random field. Most of the research was conducted in two spatial dimensions. In the theoretic analysis two different approaches were used. In the beginning the system was analysed in the mean field approximation. In the first step, we analogically introduced with a classical derivation in magnetism an effective field, which affects the local nematic ordering. We described the latter with a tension order parameter. In the effective field the "mean" neighbour presence was considered. We assumed that the inherent frames of the tension effective field and nematic ordering are parallel, which produced a self-adapting equation. In the latter, the averaging was introduced on the orientational disorder of nanoparticles. In the second approach, we numerically researched the nematic ordering from the given value of interactions in the system and then calculated the mean global nematic order parameter from the obtained configuration. In both approaches the equations were numerically solved at zero temperature. With the changing of the strength of characteristic interactions of the system we obtained qualitatively different hysteresis loops and determined the areas of stability of qualitatively different loops. In both approaches we obtained qualitatively similar behaviour, differences were evident only in the quantitative behaviour. Thus, the mean field approximation represents, in this case, a relatively reliable and simple tool. Results of the thesis are potentially interesting for numerous applications in nanotechnology, which are based on interactions between nematic liquid crystals and various nanoparticles. In the case of CN, the NCL component could be used for a controlled orientational manipulation of dispersed CN. Thusly different adaptable and responsive patterns of CN could be created with specific macroscopic behaviour. |