Novel cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) hybrid materials are synthesized using CNCs with thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) molecules by chemical conjugation for use in photonic, stimuli-responsive, and actuator applications. This CNC-liquid crystalline (CNC-LC) hybrid material platform self-assembles into unique hierarchical structures due to the interplay of LC-LC interactions as well as CNC-CNC interactions.<br/>The introduction of thermotropic cyano biphenyl (CB12) side chains onto rigid-rod CNCs shows the exclusive formation of smectic mesophases from assemblies of CB12 with the absence of cholesteric mesophase typically observed from CNC-COOH. These observations are verified by SEM, temperature-controlled SAXS (T-SAXS) and UV-Visible studies. Thus, the interplay of liquid crystalline order of CNCs, CB12 and supramolecular hydrogen bonding of CNCs results in ordered, smectic-meso-structures that can easily be processed into robust free-standing films for stimuli-responsive and optical functional applications.

Synthesis, structure, and properties of novel cellulosic liquid crystalline hybrid materials

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