Herein, we investigate a hydrogen-bonded liquid crystal compound, namely 4-(Heptyloxy) benzoic acid (7OBA), and its composites by dispersing Graphene and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) flakes into an optimized concentration. The pristine 7OBA and its composites are characterized by different instrumental techniques like polarized optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dielectric, UV-visible, and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. DSC thermograms of the 7OBA composites evince the down-shift in the smectic C−nematic and nematic−isotropic phase transition temperatures. The polarized optical micrographs (POMs) of composites reveal the homogeneous distribution of graphene and rGO flakes in the 7OBA compound without any aggregation. The π-π* transitions in phenyl ring of 7OBA compound and π-π* transition in CC bonds of graphitic materials are superimposed to each other providing an enhanced UV absorbance nearly at 255 nm for the composites. The presence of graphene and rGO enhances the tan δ and electrical conductivity of the composites, whereas dielectric anisotropy Δϵ reduces as a function of temperature in comparison to the pristine 7OBA compound. The sign inversion of Δϵ has been observed for the 7OBA/rGO composite which has been explained via dipole−dipole interactions. The I−V behavior of the pristine 7OBA compound yields the ohmic I−V curve with a non-zero current at 0 V attributing to the pseudocapacitance effect, whereas, after the dispersion of graphene and rGO flakes, nonlinear diode like I−V curves having a hundred times larger conduction current were obtained. Furthermore, the molecular interactions have been analyzed by the FTIR which confirms the formation of hydrogen bonding in the 7OBA/rGO composite. At last, these experimental findings are compared with the simulated results by DFT. The experimental and theoretical simulations are commensurable to each other. The studied composites have shown their vital applications in nonlinear electronics.

在这里，我们研究了氢键合液晶化合物，即4-（庚氧基）苯甲酸（7OBA），及其通过将石墨烯和还原氧化石墨烯（rGO）薄片分散到最佳浓度而形成的复合材料。原始的7OBA及其复合材料的特征在于不同的仪器技术，例如偏振光学显微镜，差示扫描量热法（DSC），电介质，紫外可见光和傅立叶变换红外（FTIR）光谱。7OBA复合材料的DSC温谱图表明，近晶C向列相和向列向列各向同性相变温度会降低。复合材料的偏振光学显微照片（POM）显示了7OBA化合物中石墨烯和rGO薄片的均匀分布，没有任何聚集。该π - π* 7OBA化合物的苯环过渡和π - π *石墨材料的C C键过渡相互叠加，从而为复合材料提供了近255 nm的增强UV吸收率。石墨烯和RGO的存在增强正切δ和复合材料的电导率，而介电各向异性Δ ε作为温度相比于原始7OBA化合物的功能降低。Δϵ的符号反转已经通过偶极-偶极相互作用解释了7OBA / rGO复合材料。原始7OBA化合物的IV行为会产生欧姆IV曲线，该电流在0 V时为非零电流，这归因于伪电容效应，而在石墨烯和rGO薄片分散后，非线性二极管如IV曲线获得具有大一百倍的导电电流。此外，已经通过FTIR分析了分子相互作用，这证实了在7OBA / rGO复合物中氢键的形成。最后，将这些实验结果与DFT的模拟结果进行了比较。实验和理论模拟是可以相互比较的。所研究的复合材料已显示出其在非线性电子学中的重要应用。