Revisiting (hydroxypropyl) cellulose (HPC)/water liquid crystalline system

ABSTRACT

The discovery of a cholesteric liquid crystalline phase in concentrated aqueous solutions of (hydroxypropyl)cellulose (HPC) dates back to the 1970s. Due to its biocompatibility, low cost and ease of conversion to fibres and films, HPC is still the target of numerous studies. In this article, some of the properties of the HPC/water lyotropic system are reviewed, and original results describing a humidity-generated instability on HPC fibres are presented. The use of HPC films which respond to external stimuli is highlighted. In particular, novel applications include the manufacture of soft motors driven by a difference of humidity, and the production of electro-optical cells when the solid films are used in conjunction with low molecular mass thermotropic mesogens.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Cellulose
• liquid crystal
• lyotropic
• fibres
• films

Acknowledgements

This work is funded by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Program and National Funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the projects numbers POCI- 01-0145-FEDER-007688 (Reference UID/CTM/50025), PTDC/CTM-BIO/6178/2014. Figure 10 pictures are acknowledged to Y. Geng. D.G.G. thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for support. P.P. thanks V. Klein, S. Saranga, J. Sanchez, J.-L. Signoret, M. Bottineau, J. Vieira and C. Goldman for technical help.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is funded by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Program and National Funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the projects numbers POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007688 (Reference UID/CTM/50025), PTDC/CTM-BIO/6178/2014. D.G.G. thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for support.