Discotic ionic liquid crystals of triphenylene as dispersants for orienting single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Orient and conduct: Triphenylene-based discotic ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) with six imidazolium ion pendants can disperse pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). When the ILC is columnarly assembled, doping with SWNTs results in macroscopic homeotropic columnar orientation. Combination of shear and annealing treatments gives rise to three different orientation states, which determine the anisotropy of electrical conduction.