On the mobility of sodium ions and of confined liquid crystals in molecular sieves of faujasite type

Abstract Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (10 −2 –10 9 Hz) was employed to study in a rather large temperature interval the molecular dynamics of the composite systems containing a nematic liquid crystal (LC), 4- n -pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl, confined to NaY, a zeolite with faujasite structure. Thermal analysis was also performed in order to get information concerning the loading of the zeolite and the possible phase transitions. No phase transitions and no relaxation processes of the LC molecules inside the pores were observed. But remarkably, in the presence of these molecules the dielectric behavior of the faujasite host changes due to modifications appeared in the mobility of Na + ions.