Cholesteric-type cellulosic structures: from plants to applications

ABSTRACT

The structural support of plant cells is provided by the cell wall, which major load-bearing component is an array of hierarchical orientedhierarchical-oriented cellulose nano-, micro- and meso-structures of cellulose microfibrils. Cellulosic structures can respond to humidity changes by expanding or shrinking and this allows, for example, the dispersion of seeds. Previous studies have shown that nanorods, extracted from cell walls, can generate lyotropic liquid crystals that are at the origin of solid cholesteric-like arrangements. Not only photonic films, but also right and left helical filaments, anisotropic films with the ability to bend back and forth under the action of a moisture gradient at room temperature, are some of the materials that were produced from cellulose liquid crystal systems. This work is a review that focus on liquid crystalline-based structures obtained from cellulosic materials and how small perturbations on their structures affect significantly the response to external stimulus and interactions with the environment. Special emphasis is given to cholesteric-like organization of cellulose structures existing in plants, which are an inspiration for the production of the next generation of soft interactive materials.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Cellulose
• cholesteric phases
• cellulose-based lyotropic systems
• thermotropic cellulosic systems
• photonic materials
• responsive cellulose-based materials

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge National Funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and FCT/MCTES. Under projects numbers UID/CTM/50025/2019, PTDC/FIS-NAN/0117/2014, PTDC/CTM-BIO/6178/2014, M-ERA-NET2/0007/2016 (CellColor) and PTDC/CTM/30529/2017. A.P.A. acknowledge the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education for National Funds, European Social Funds, and FCT for the fellowship with reference SFRH/BD/115567/2016.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is funded by National Funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and FCT/MCTES. Under projects numbers UID/CTM/50025/2019, PTDC/FIS-NAN/0117/2014, PTDC/CTM-BIO/6178/2014, M-ERA-NET2/0007/2016 (CellColor) and PTDC/CTM/30529/2017. A.P.A. acknowledge the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education for National Funds, European Social Funds, and FCT for the fellowship with reference SFRH/BD/115567/2016.