Issue 41, 2016

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

Abstract

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.

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

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 juin 2016
Accepted
21 sept. 2016
First published
21 sept. 2016

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016,4, 9687-9696

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

T. Wu, J. Li, J. Li, S. Ye, J. Wei and J. Guo, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 9687 DOI: 10.1039/C6TC02629J

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