Journal
ADVANCED SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS
Volume 5, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/adsu.202000272
Keywords
cellulose nanocrystals; cholesteric; co-assembly; colloidal liquid crystals; silk fibroin; structural colors
Funding
- EPSRC [1525292]
- MSCA Individual Fellowship [BINGO 743543]
- Office of Naval Research, USA [N000141812258]
- National Science Foundation, USA [CMMI-1752172]
- U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) [N000141812258] Funding Source: U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
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Successful co-assembly of regenerated SF with CNCs was investigated, and the appearance of photonic properties was observed at pH >= 4.15, highlighting the importance of suppressing attractive electrostatic interactions between the two species for an organized structure to emerge. This work is relevant for designing sustainable optical materials compatible with food packaging coatings and edible coloring pigments.
Controlled self-assembly of bio-sourced nanocolloids is of high importance for the development of sustainable and low-cost functional materials but controlling nanocomposite fabrication with both satisfactory optical properties and composition remains challenging. Silk fibroin (SF) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have independently demonstrated their ability to produce high-quality photonic materials, in part due to their low absorbance and their transparency in the visible range. While SF is able to replicate inverse structures by high-resolution nano-templating, CNCs can spontaneously assemble into cholesteric liquid crystalline structures that are retained upon solvent evaporation, yielding photonic films. In this work, the conditions of successful co-assembly of regenerated SF, extracted from silkworm silk, with CNCs extracted from cotton, are investigated. Their co-assembly is investigated for various relative concentration ratios and pH, combining polarized optical microscopy and spectroscopy, SEM, and other characterization techniques (XRD, ATR-FTIR, TGA). The appearance of photonic properties is observed when CNC and SF are assembled at pH >= 4.15, highlighting the importance of suppressing attractive electrostatic interactions between the two species for an organized structure to emerge. Beyond its fundamental motivations for colloidal co-assembly with structural proteins, this work is relevant to design sustainable optical materials compatible with food packaging coatings and edible coloring pigments.
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