Cholesteric Cellulose Liquid Crystal Fibers by Direct Drawing

Polymer fibers are attracting increasing attention as a type of fundamental material for a wide range of products. However, to incorporate novel functionality, a crucial challenge is to simultaneously manipulate their structuring across multiple length scales. In this research, a facile and universal approach is proposed by directly drawing a pre-gel feedstock embedding a cellulose cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC). An in situ photo-polymerization process is applied, which not only allows for the continuous drawing of the filaments without breakup but also makes the final CLC fibers a colored appearance. More importantly, the multiscale properties of the fibers, such as their diameter, morphology, and the internal liquid crystalline ordering of the molecules (and thus structural color), can be manipulated by several controlling parameters. Combining this cross-scale tunability with a smart functional hydrogel system results in the formation of fibers with structural coloration, self-healing, electrical conduction, and thermal-sensing abilities. We believe that this platform can be extended to other hydrogel systems and will help unlock a wide variety of real-life applications.