Electrooptic Effects in the Nematic and Isotropic Phases of Aqueous V2O5 Suspensions

In water‐based lyotropic liquid crystals (LCs), e.g., aqueous suspensions of V2O5, the electrooptical effects typical of thermotropic mesophases are difficult to observe, owing to the large conductivity and electrochemical reactions of the suspensions. Overcoming these difficulties, the authors demonstrate that V2O5 aqueous nematic suspensions can be aligned and even reoriented in a low AC electric field—in addition to the recently reported slow (30 min) alignment in magnetic fields. The response time of ∼1 s indicates that mineral LCs may be suitable for simple display applications.