1. Chameleon-Inspired Variable Coloration Enabled by a Highly Flexible Photonic Cellulose Film
- Author
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Yi-Ning Fan, Fei Song, Ze-Lian Zhang, Yu-Zhong Wang, Xiu-Li Wang, Lu-Ming Yang, Xiu Dong, and Lu He
- Subjects
Materials science ,business.industry ,Nanotechnology ,02 engineering and technology ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,0104 chemical sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Cellulose nanocrystals ,chemistry ,Liquid crystal ,General Materials Science ,Cellulose ,Photonics ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Structural coloration ,Circular polarization - Abstract
Due to spontaneous organization of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) into the chiral nematic structure that can selectively reflect circularly polarized light within a visible-light region, fabricating stretching deformation-responsive CNC materials is of great interest but is still a big challenge, despite such a function widely observed from existing creatures, like a chameleon, because of the inherent brittleness. Here, a flexible network structure is introduced in CNCs, exerting a bridge effect for the rigid nanomaterials. The as-prepared films display high flexibility with a fracture strain of up to 39%. Notably, stretching-induced structural color changes visible to the naked eye are realized, for the first time, for CNC materials. In addition, the soft materials show humidity- and compression-responsive properties in terms of changing apparent structural colors. Colored marks left by ink-free writing can be shown or hidden by controlling the environmental humidities. This biobased photonic film, acting as a new "smart skin", is potentially used with multifunctions of chromogenic sensing, encryption, and anti-counterfeit.
- Published
- 2020
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