Cellulose Nanocrystals are readily produced from many plant and bacterial sources and have been studied extensively for low cost self-assembled optical elements. Nanocrystals are known to form a chiral nematic phase, which allows for production of films with chiral character. I will discuss recent advances in understanding how to control the chirality of cellulose nanocrystal solutions. The Debye length of a nanocrystal solution is typically around 4nm for pH between 1.5 and 10 and abruptly drops to around 1 nm for pH lower or higher than this range. With a Debye Length of 1nm, the solution can only form nematic phase, which is more useful for production of waveplates and other birefringent optics. Additionally I will discuss the behavior of cellulose solutions with amorphous material remaining in solution which form discotic- like systems.
Liquid crystal elasticity forms distortions and topological defects that allow for the controlled self-assembly of inclusions within liquid crystal media. Many groups have developed this idea for dispersion, alignment, and manipulation of a collection of individual particles to create plasmonic polarizers and others have studied colloidal crystallization processes within LC hosts. Extending this idea to consider more complex superstructures where a variety of forces can produce effects on larger lengthscales can expand the space of materials design and answer first principles questions about complex fluid dynamics. I will discuss results on colloidal inclusions at liquid-liquid and liquid- air interfaces where surface tension and capillary forces augment elasticity to provide the necessary tools for such hierarchical self-assembly.
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