Orientational Effects Observed During the Passage of Electrons Induced by an Electric Field in Low-Concentration Aqueous Solutions of Liquid Crystals

Abstract

The features of the emission and passage of electrons in structured aqueous solutions of low-concentration liquid crystals are studied. The investigated materials are low-concentration aqueous solutions of molecular complexes of the surface-active substance cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide. The weighted droplets of an aqueous solution are studied, electron emission from the surface and from the volume of which was stimulated by bipolar electrical pulses. Analysis of the results showed that at surfactant concentrations of up to about 1.5 × 10^–4 mol % the isotropic emission of electrons from the surface of the aqueous solution is observed. At high concentrations of long-chain molecules, the surfactants form aggregates (micelles) ordered along the four directions. This ensures the formation of channels of the facilitated anisotropic emission of electrons from the volume of the solution. The obtained experimental data make it possible to determine the shape of the molecular complexes, their spatial orientation and the nature of the ordering.