Bio-inspired non-iridescent structural coloration enabled by self-assembled cellulose nanocrystal composite films with balanced ordered/disordered arrays
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Brilliant structural colors existing widely in nature and living organisms, like butterfly wings, pearls, and peacock feathers, have attracted particular interest in wide applications of decoration, anti-counterfeiting and colorimetric sensing [[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]]. Unlike pigment color and luminescence, structural coloration originates from diffraction, scattering and interference of light with periodic nanostructures. During past decades, a variety of nanoarrays with tunable size and spacing have been developed to generate iridescent structural colors in terms of the principle of Bragg reflection [[9], [10], [11], [12]]. For example, Duempelmann et al. presented a plasmonic color filter, capable of changing the output color by simple rotation of a polarizer [9]; Wang et al. prepared reversible full-color plasmonic cells/display by electrochemically controlling the structure of an Au/Ag core-shell nano-array [11]. Due to the long-range ordered arrangement of the materials, the anisotropic photonic band gap (PBG) appears, allowing light reflection at certain wavelengths [13]. With respect to such mechanism, these materials show changeable structural colors at different viewing angles, namely, iridescent colors.
Unlike the iridescent structural colors, vivid angle-independent structural colors are formed on the basis of amorphous arrays with merely short-range orders, which are found from blue integumentary of dragonfly as well as back contour feather barbs of bluebird [[14], [15], [16]]. Inspired by these creatures, Zhao et al. used barbs of blue parrot as a template to prepare three-dimensional macroporous SiO2 and TiO2 structures with a short-range order displaying blue colors [17]; Takeoka et al. prepared amorphous arrays of submicrometer-sized fine spherical silica colloidal particles [19]; Zhu et al. used two-step calcination to prepare noniridescent Air@C@TiO2 sphere [21]; Song's group fabricated brilliant noniridescent poly (styrene-methyl-methacrylate-acrylic acid) nanospheres doping with graphene nanosheets containing GQDs [22]. However, these low angle-dependent materials are prepared from regular nanoparticles based on either inorganic substances (e.g., SiO2, TiO2, and Cu2O) or non-renewable petroleum-based polymers (e.g., polydopamine, poly (methylmethacrylate) and polystyrene) [[17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24]].
Featuring with renewability and sustainability, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) has naturally occurring needle-like nanostructures with chirality [[25], [26], [27], [28], [29]]. Upon solvent evaporation at controlled conditions, interestingly, CNC tends to spontaneously assemble into a helical chiral nematic structure that enables brilliant iridescent structural coloration of resulting solid composite films [[30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39]]. Until now, the iridescent CNC composite films have been explored as chemical, physical, and mechanical sensors. For example, MacLachlan's group introduced urea-formaldehyde and amino-formaldehyde resins into the CNC matrix, constructing mesoporous photonic CNC composite films sensitive to humidity and pressure [30]; Zhou et al. prepared humidity-responsive chiral nematic cellulose nanocrystal/poly (ethylene glycol) composite films [32]; He et al. introduced glycerol into CNC as a plasticizer to fabricate an environmental humidity-responsive composite film [33]; very recently, Tsukruk and co-workers reported a self-assembled carbon quantum dot-decorated CNC composite film with obviously enhanced fluorescence [35]. Wang et al. fabricated mechano-thermo-chromic hydrogels with uniform iridescent interference colors by locking of aligned CNC into poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) networks [38]. Unfortunately, the state of art of CNC composite films is still limited at iridescent structural colors, giving rise to serious judgment errors if using for optical sensing. Development of low-/non-angle-dependent structural-color materials from CNC is therefore urgently required but has not been reported yet.
Here, inspired by longhorn beetle, an insect with non-iridescent colors relying on an internal short-range ordered structure that generates isotropic PBG to allow multiple photon scattering (Fig. 1a), we propose a simple and effective strategy to construct non-iridescent structural-color CNC composite films by incorporating poly (dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA) into the CNC array. Through electrostatic co-assembly of CNC and PDDA, the long-range ordered structure of CNC is destroyed, enabling the angle-independent colors. Due to the intercalation of PDDA into the interlayer of CNC as well as tunable nanostructures, the structural coloration is adjusted. Furthermore, the potential application of the resulting non-iridescent CNC composite film as a chromatic sensing material is investigated.
Section snippets
Materials
Cotton wool (product No. YZB/Chuan 0177-2013) was provided by Kangda Health Materials Co. (Sichuan, China). Sulfuric acid (CAS No. 7664-93-9) was purchased from Kelong Co. (Sichuan, China). Poly (dimethyl diallyl ammonium) chloride (PDDA, CAS No. 26062-79-3, Mw 100,000-200,000, 20 wt%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. Acetic acid (CAS No. 64-19-7) was purchased from Chengdu Kelong Co. (Sichuan, China). These reagents were used without any further purification. Deionized (DI) water was obtained
Preparation of non-iridescent structural-color CNC films
Iridescent structural colors are formed by selective reflection of incident light with unique photonic nanostructures [40]. However, in the case of sensing applications, the strong angle-dependent coloration is highly unwanted because of inaccurate detection. A long-range disordered but short-range ordered structure is the key point for fabricating low angle-dependent structural-color materials [[17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24],41]. In this work, therefore, the long-range ordered
Conclusion
In summary, a low-/non-angle-dependent structural-color CNC composite film is developed through co-assembly with PDDA. The introduction of PDDA induces structural transition of CNC from long-range order to long-range disorder but causes no changes of short-range order, thus non-iridescent structural colors are realized for the CNC/PDDA composite films in case of the PDDA amount over 1.13%. Due to the water sensitivity of CNC, such composite films can perceive water molecules in mixing solutions
Credit authorship contribution statement
Xiu Dong: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing-original draft. Ze-Lian Zhang: Development or design of methodology.Yu-Yao Zhao: Software, Investigation.Dong Li: Software, Investigation. Zi-Li Wang: Investigation.Chen Wang: Investigation.Fei Song: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing-editing, Funding acquisition. Xiu-Li Wang: Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Yu-Zhong Wang: Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (2020YFD1100702), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 52073189), Science and Technology Fund for Distinguish Young Scholars of Sichuan Province (2019JDJQ0025), State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (sklpme2020-3-09), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
References (56)
- et al.
Extraction and characterization of cellulose nanofibers and nanocrystals from liquefied banana pseudo-stem residue
Compos B Eng
(2019) - et al.
Preparation of different morphologies cellulose nanocrystals from waste cotton fibers and its effect on PLLA/PDLA composites films
Compos B Eng
(2021) - et al.
Ultrahigh strength nanocomposite hydrogels designed by locking oriented tunicate cellulose nanocrystals in polymeric networks
Compos B Eng
(2020) - et al.
Shofner. Processing strategies for cellulose nanocrystal/polyethylene-co-vinyl alcohol composites
Polymer
(2017) - et al.
Selective adsorption and separation of organic dyes using functionalized cellulose nanocrystals
Chem Eng J
(2021) - et al.
Highly sensitive self-healable strain biosensors based on robust transparent conductive nanocellulose nanocomposites: relationship between percolated network and sensing mechanism
Biosens Bioelectron
(2021) Nano-optics in the biological world: beetles, butterflies, birds, and moths
Chem Rev
(1999)- et al.
Opals: status and prospects
Angew Chem Int Ed
(2009) - et al.
Coloration strategies in peacock feathers
PNAS
(2003) - et al.
Chameleon-inspired mechanochromic photonic films composed of non-close-packed colloidal arrays
ACS Nano
(2017)
Bio-inspired vapor-responsive colloidal photonic crystal patterns by inkjet printing
ACS Nano
Highly invisible photonic crystal patterns encrypted in an inverse opaline macroporous polyurethane film for anti-counterfeiting applications
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
Bio-inspired variable structural color materials
Chem Soc Rev
Structural color materials for optical anticounterfeiting
Small
Four-fold color filter based on plasmonic phase retarder
ACS Photonics
Full-color subwavelength printing with gap-plasmonic optical antennas
Nano Lett
Mechanical chameleon through dynamic real-time plasmonic tuning
ACS Nano
Dynamic plasmonic colour display
Nat Commun
Tunable colors in opals and inverse opal photonic crystals
Adv Funct Mater
Blue integumentary structural colours in dragonflies (odonata) are not produced by incoherent tyndall scattering
J Exp Biol
Angle-independent structural coloured amorphous arrays
J Mater Chem
Biomimetic isotropic nanostructures for structural coloration
Adv Mater
Macroporous oxide structures with short-range order and bright structural coloration: a replication from parrot feather barbs
J Mater Chem
Bio-inspired robust non-iridescent structural color with self-adhesive amorphous colloidal particle arrays
Nanoscale
Bio-inspired bright structurally colored colloidal amorphous array enhanced by controlling thickness and black background
Adv Mater
Metallosupramolecular photonic elastomers with self-healing capability and angle-independent color
Adv Mater
Preparation of noniridescent structurally colored PS@TiO2 and Air@C@TiO2 core-shell nanoparticles with enhanced color stability
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
Highly brilliant noniridescent structural colors enabled by graphene nanosheets containing graphene quantum dots
Adv Funct Mater
Cited by (19)
Asymmetric wettability fibrous membranes: Preparation and biologic applications
2024, Composites Part B: EngineeringDual-mode Janus Structural-Color films toward an integrated sensing device with synergistic optical and electrical outputs
2023, Chemical Engineering JournalAdvances in bioinspired and multifunctional biomaterials made from chiral cellulose nanocrystals
2023, Chemical Engineering JournalConstruction of cellulose structural-color pigments with tunable colors and iridescence/non-iridescence
2023, Carbohydrate PolymersRapid, linear, and highly reliable structural-color switching enabled by thermal regulation of chiral nematic mesophases
2023, Chemical Engineering JournalCitation Excerpt :Particularly, in recent years, the development of dynamic photonic skins/devices has been of high interest for their promising functions for sensing, display, information encryption, and security [28–30]. The essence of structural coloration relies on the diffraction and reflection of light with periodic nanostructures, which are mainly constructed with photonic crystals and liquid crystals [31–32]. The former, mostly in forms of solid materials, is capable of changing colors through shape deformations upon exposure to stimuli.