Chiral Nematic Cellulose Nanocrystal Films Cooperated with Amino Acids for Tunable Optical Properties

The exploration of functional materials relies greatly on the understanding of material structures and nanotechnologies. In the present work, chiral nematic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) films were prepared by incorporation with four types of amino acids (AAs, glycine, histidine, phenylalanine, and serine) via evaporation-induced self-assembly. The films present ideal iridescence and birefringence that can be tuned by the amount of AAs added. The intercalation of AAs enlarged the pitch values, contributing to the red-shift trend of the reflective wavelength. Among the AAs, serine presented the most compatible intercalation into cellulose crystals. Interestingly, histidine and phenylalanine composite films showed high shielding capabilities of UV light in diverse wavelength regions, exhibiting multi-optical functions. The sustainable preparation of chiral nematic CNC films may provide new strategies for materials production from biocompatible lignocellulose.

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Tuning the Iridescence of Chiral Nematic Cellulose Nanocrystal Films with a Vacuum-Assisted Self-Assembly Technique

Biomacromolecules ◽

10.1021/bm501355x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 15 (11) ◽

pp. 4343-4350 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Qi Chen ◽

Ping Liu ◽

Fuchun Nan ◽

Lijuan Zhou ◽

Jianming Zhang

Keyword(s):

Self Assembly ◽

Cellulose Nanocrystal ◽

Chiral Nematic ◽

Assembly Technique ◽

Nanocrystal Films

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Cellulose Based Photonic Materials Displaying Direction Modulated Photoluminescence

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology ◽

10.3389/fbioe.2021.617328 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Molíria V. Santos ◽

Fernando E. Maturi ◽

Édison Pecoraro ◽

Hernane S. Barud ◽

Laís R. Lima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

Self Assembly ◽

Light Emission ◽

Composite Films ◽

Film Structure ◽

Cellulose Nanocrystal ◽

Attractive Alternative ◽

Photonic Materials ◽

Light Emitting ◽

Chiral Nematic

Photonic materials featuring simultaneous iridescence and light emission are an attractive alternative for designing novel optical devices. The luminescence study of a new optical material that integrates light emission and iridescence through liquid crystal self-assembly of cellulose nanocrystal-template silica approach is herein presented. These materials containing Rhodamine 6G were obtained as freestanding composite films with a chiral nematic organization. The scanning electron microscopy confirms that the cellulose nanocrystal film structure comprises multi-domain Bragg reflectors and the optical properties of these films can be tuned through changes in the relative content of silica/cellulose nanocrystals. Moreover, the incorporation of the light-emitting compound allows a complementary control of the optical properties. Overall, such findings demonstrated that the photonic structure plays the role of direction-dependent inner-filter, causing selective suppression of the light emitted with angle-dependent detection.

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Optically Ambidextrous Reflection and Luminescence in Self-Organized Left-Handed Chiral Nematic Cellulose Nanocrystal Films

CCS Chemistry ◽

10.31635/ccschem.020.202000248 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 932-945

Author(s):

Jiawei Tao ◽

Chen Zou ◽

Haijing Jiang ◽

Mei Li ◽

Di Lu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cellulose Nanocrystal ◽

Self Organized ◽

Left Handed ◽

Chiral Nematic ◽

Nanocrystal Films

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Diverse protein assembly driven by metal and chelating amino acids with selectivity and tunability

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-019-13491-w ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Minwoo Yang ◽

Woon Ju Song

Keyword(s):

Amino Acids ◽

Self Assembly ◽

Protein Structures ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Unnatural Amino Acid ◽

Metal Coordination ◽

Specific Chemical ◽

Natural Building ◽

Kinetics Of

AbstractProteins are versatile natural building blocks with highly complex and multifunctional architectures, and self-assembled protein structures have been created by the introduction of covalent, noncovalent, or metal-coordination bonding. Here, we report the robust, selective, and reversible metal coordination properties of unnatural chelating amino acids as the sufficient and dominant driving force for diverse protein self-assembly. Bipyridine-alanine is genetically incorporated into a D3 homohexamer. Depending on the position of the unnatural amino acid, 1-directional, crystalline and noncrystalline 2-directional, combinatory, and hierarchical architectures are effectively created upon the addition of metal ions. The length and shape of the structures is tunable by altering conditions related to thermodynamics and kinetics of metal-coordination and subsequent reactions. The crystalline 1-directional and 2-directional biomaterials retain their native enzymatic activities with increased thermal stability, suggesting that introducing chelating ligands provides a specific chemical basis to synthesize diverse protein-based functional materials while retaining their native structures and functions.

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Flexible and Responsive Chiral Nematic Cellulose Nanocrystal/Poly(ethylene glycol) Composite Films with Uniform and Tunable Structural Color

Advanced Materials ◽

10.1002/adma.201701323 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (28) ◽

pp. 1701323 ◽

Cited By ~ 117

Author(s):

Kun Yao ◽

Qijun Meng ◽

Vincent Bulone ◽

Qi Zhou

Keyword(s):

Ethylene Glycol ◽

Composite Films ◽

Cellulose Nanocrystal ◽

Structural Color ◽

Poly Ethylene Glycol ◽

Chiral Nematic ◽

Poly Ethylene

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Chiroptical, morphological and conducting properties of chiral nematic mesoporous cellulose/polypyrrole composite films

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/c7ta05684b ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (36) ◽

pp. 19184-19194 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Erlantz Lizundia ◽

Thanh-Dinh Nguyen ◽

Jose L. Vilas ◽

Wadood Y. Hamad ◽

Mark J. MacLachlan

Keyword(s):

Composite Materials ◽

Composite Films ◽

Cellulose Nanocrystal ◽

Chemical Polymerization ◽

Chiral Nematic ◽

Polypyrrole Composite ◽

Surface Modified ◽

Cellulose Composite

Conductive chiral nematic cellulose composite materials have been fabricated via in situ oxidative chemical polymerization of pyrrole onto surface-modified mesoporous cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) films.

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Circularly Polarized Light Detection by Chiral Photonic Cellulose Nanocrystal with ZnO Photoconductive Layer in Ultraviolet Region

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano11113098 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 3098

Author(s):

Boyu Zhang ◽

Sixiang Zhao ◽

Yingying Yu ◽

Ming Li ◽

Liancheng Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Self Assembly ◽

Polarization State ◽

Polarized Light ◽

Cellulose Nanocrystal ◽

Ultraviolet Region ◽

Circularly Polarized Light ◽

Circularly Polarized ◽

Left Handed ◽

Chiral Nematic ◽

Wide Range

Circularly polarized light (CPL) detection and polarization state recognition are required for a wide range of applications. Conventional polarization detection with optical components causes difficulties for miniaturization and integration. An effective design strategy is proposed for direct CPL detection with chiral material. Here, we realized direct CPL detection based on the combination of chiral photonic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) and ultraviolet-sensitive ZnO photoconductive material. The CNC layer deposited by evaporation-induced self-assembly established the left-handed chiral nematic structure with a photonic bandgap (PBG) to recognize left-handed CPL (LCPL) and right-handed CPL (RCPL) at specific wavelengths. The PBG of CNC layer has been modulated by the adjustment of chiral nematic pitch to match the semiconductor bandgap of ZnO film in ultraviolet region. The photocurrents under RCPL and LCPL are 2.23 × 10−6 A and 1.77 × 10−6 A respectively and the anisotropy factor Δgpc of 0.23 is acquired for the CPL detection based on the chiral photonic CNC. This design provides a new approach to the detection of CPL polarization state with competitive performance.

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Cellulose nanocrystals in nanoarchitectonics – towards photonic functional materials

Molecular Systems Design & Engineering ◽

10.1039/c8me00065d ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 29-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Michael Giese ◽

Matthias Spengler

Keyword(s):

Cellulose Nanocrystals ◽

Self Assembly ◽

Functional Materials ◽

Chiral Nematic ◽

Application Potential

This review summarizes the recent achievements in the development of photonic functional materials based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and CNC templating. The unique self-assembly of CNCs into chiral nematic structures introduces photonic properties for the development of functional materials with application potential in photonic sensing, tunable reflectors or optoelectronics.

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