Watching Paper Dry: Making Photonic Structures from Cellulose Nanocrystals
Professor Mark MacLachlan Abstract: Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) obtained from paper or cotton are of great interest for many applications.1 In water, CNCs spontaneously form a chiral nematic lyotropic liquid crystalline phase, which can be preserved in dried films. The helicoidal structural organization of the CNCs in these films resembles the Bouligand structure of chitin found...