Polymer and Mesoporous Silica Microspheres with Chiral Nematic Order from Cellulose Nanocrystals

Polymer microspheres with chiral nematic order were obtained from an emulsion polymerization technique using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as the template. The growth of the liquid crystals from tiny tactoids to droplets with spherical symmetry was captured and investigated by both optical and elect...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2016-09, Vol.55 (40), p.12460-12464
Main Authors: Wang, Pei-Xi, Hamad, Wadood Y., MacLachlan, Mark J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assembling
Cellulose
cellulose nanocrystals
chiral nematic structure
Crystals
Devices
Droplets
Electron microscopy
Emulsion polymerization
Evolution
Kernels
Liquid crystals
mesoporous silica
Micrometers
Microspheres
Nanocrystals
Nematic
Polymerization
Silica
Silicon dioxide
Surface area
Symmetry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Polymer microspheres with chiral nematic order were obtained from an emulsion polymerization technique using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as the template. The growth of the liquid crystals from tiny tactoids to droplets with spherical symmetry was captured and investigated by both optical and electron microscopy for the first time. The size of the microspheres could be tuned between tens and hundreds of micrometers; to obtain single, integrated chiral nematic kernels, the size of water droplets in the emulsion should be similar to that of CNC tactoids. Through a double‐matrix templating method, novel silica microspheres with chiral nematic order were fabricated, which showed a high surface area and mesoporosity. The methods developed here may help to reveal the evolution of other self‐assembling systems, and these materials have potential applications in optical devices and chiral separations. Polymer microspheres with chiral nematic order were obtained through photopolymerization of acrylamide in the presence of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). Using this approach, silica microspheres with chiral nematic structures were also fabricated for the first time.
ISSN:1433-7851
1521-3773
DOI:10.1002/anie.201606283