Impedance spectroscopy investigation of liquid crystals doped with ionic surfactants

The effect of a direct-current (dc) electric field on the electrophysical characteristics of nematic liquid crystals of the alkyl cyanobiphenyl series nCB (n = 6–8) and the multicomponent liquid-crystal mixture MB-1, which are doped with ionic surfactants, has been investigated using impedance spectroscopy. It has been found that the impedance spectra depend substantially on the dc bias voltage applied to the sample. The approximation of the measured spectra with specially developed equivalent circuits of the measuring cell with a sample has made it possible to determine the capacitance of the electric double layer and the electrical conductivity of the samples, as well as the mobility, concentration, and diffusion coefficient of the ions. It has been shown that a region of the space charge is formed in the frequency range f < 100 Hz near the electrodes of the measuring cell with a liquid-crystal sample, which leads to an increase in the active (resistive) and reactive (capacitive) components of the impedance.