Bioinspired Optical Flexible Cellulose Nanocrystal Films with Strain-Adaptive Structural Coloration
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Published on: June 23, 2018
Ze-Lian Zhang1, Xiu Dong1, Yu-Yao Zhao1
1The Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Friendly and Fire-Safety Polymeric Materials (MoE), National Engineering Laboratory of Eco-Friendly Polymeric Materials (Sichuan), State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
Abstract:
Recent advances of photonic crystals are driven to mechanical sensors and smart wearable devices; however, for chiral photonic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) materials, vivid structural coloration and reversible mechanochromism like chameleon skin remain a big challenge. Here, we report a ternary co-assembly and post-UV-irradiation polymerization strategy to develop flexible and elastic CNC composite films, which, notably, have naked-eye-visible brilliant structural colors and stretching-induced color change covering a broad wavelength region at a moderate deformation (like skin). By adjusting the stretching, the film is designed as a smart skin to adapt to surrounding environments for camouflage. This work offers a universal strategy for constructing biomimic optically functional cellulose skins.
