Journal
ACS NANO
Volume 10, Issue 9, Pages 8443-8449Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b03355
Keywords
liquid crystals; microfluidics; colloidal self-assembly; cellulose nanocrystals; hierarchical architecture
Categories
Funding
- BBSRC [BB/K014617/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/K014617/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [1525292] Funding Source: researchfish
- European Research Council (ERC) [639088] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/K014617/1] Funding Source: Medline
- European Research Council [639088] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Complex hierarchical architectures are ubiquitous in nature. By designing and controlling the interaction between elementary building blocks, nature is able to optimize a large variety of materials with multiple functionalities. Such control is, however, extremely challenging in man-made materials, due to the difficulties in controlling their interaction at different length scales simultaneously. Here, hierarchical cholesteric architectures are obtained by the self-assembly of cellulose, nanocrystals within shrinking, micron-sized aqueous droplets. This confined, spherical geometry drastically affects the colloidal self-assembly process, resulting in concentric ordering within the droplet, as confirmed by simulation. This provides, a quantitative tool to Study the interactions of cellulose nanocrystals beyond what has been achieved in a planar geometry. Our developed methodology allows us to fabricate truly hierarchical solid-state architectures from the nanometer to the macroscopic scale using a renewable and sustainable biopolymer.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available