A bio-inspired cellulose nanocrystal-based nanocomposite photonic film with hyper-reflection and humidity-responsive actuator properties

作者：Wu, Tianhang; Li, Jiada; Li, Juntao; Ye, Simin; Wei, Jie; Guo, Jinbao^*

来源：Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2016, 4(41): 9687-9696.

DOI：10.1039/c6tc02629j

• LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS
• CIRCULARLY-POLARIZED-LIGHT
• CHIRAL NEMATIC STRUCTURES
• OPTICAL-PROPERTIES
• STRUCTURAL COLOR
• POLYMER-FILMS
• IRIDESCENCE
• CRUSTACEAN
• BEETLES
• VISION

We have developed a cellulose nanocrystal-based nanocomposite photonic film with a sandwich structure to mimic the shell structure of the Chrysina genus of beetles. The nanocomposite film was fabricated by embedding a uniaxially oriented polyamide-6 (PA-6) layer as a half-wave retarder layer between two cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs)/polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) layers with a left-handed chiral nematic photonic structure. As a result, the reflectance intensity of the obtained nanocomposite film exceeds 50% (hyper-reflection) at a certain wavelength. More interestingly, asymmetric expansion/shrinkage of the CNCs/PEGDA layer in the nanocomposite film allows for simultaneous and reversible three-dimensional deformation behavior as well as the shift of the Bragg reflection when exposed to a humid environment. The proposed self-assembled photonic material will be attractive to be used as an optical anti-counterfeiting film, a tunable bandpass filter, a reflector or polarizer and a humidity-responsive actuator.

• 出版日期2016-11-7
• 单位北京化工大学