Preparation and Application of Cellulose Nanocrystalline Chiral Liquid Crystals

Siyu Li; Yifan Liu; Yuancai Lv; Xiaoxia Ye; Chunxiang Lin; Minghua Liu

doi:10.7536/PC240616

PDF(11252 KB)

Prog Chem ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5) : 670-685. DOI: 10.7536/PC240616

Review

Preparation and Application of Cellulose Nanocrystalline Chiral Liquid Crystals

Siyu Li ¹ ,
Yifan Liu ¹ ,
Yuancai Lv ¹ ,
Xiaoxia Ye ¹ ,
Chunxiang Lin ¹^,^* ,
Minghua Liu ¹^,²^,^*

Author information +

History +

Abstract

Cellulose nanocrystals（CNCs）are rod-like nanomaterials with high crystallinity obtained from natural cellulose. CNCs suspensions can form iridescent films with chiral nematic structure through evaporation-induced self-assembly（EISA），showing unique optical properties and presenting specific structural colors，which has great application potential in the fields of anti-counterfeiting，sensing，optoelectronics and so on. Due to the abundant，green and renewable feedstock，CNCs has become the first choice of the new chiral materials. In this paper，the formation mechanism，structure and optical properties of CNCs chiral liquid crystals are introduced，the preparation methods of CNCs chiral liquid crystals which are typical at home and abroad in recent years are reviewed，and the structural colors and regulation methods of CNCs chiral liquid crystals are discussed. The application progress of CNCs chiral liquid crystals in the fields of anti-counterfeiting materials，template materials，other functional materials and biomedicine is also summarized. Finally，the challenges and research prospects of CNCs chiral liquid crystals are addressed.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Formation mechanism and structural characteristics of chiral nematic liquid crystals of cellulose nanocrystals

3 Methods for preparing chiral nematic liquid crystals of cellulose nanocrystals

3.1 Sulfuric acid hydrolysis process

3.2 TEMPO oxidation process

3.3 Other oxidation methods

3.4 Organic acid hydrolysis method

4 Structural regulation of chiral nematic liquid crystals in cellulose nanocrystals

4.1 Influence of length-diameter ratio of CNCs

4.2 The influence of external conditions

5 Application of chiral nematic liquid crystals in cellulose nanocrystals

5.1 Anti-counterfeiting material

5.2 Formwork material

5.3 Other functional materials

5.4 Biomedicine

6 Conclusion and outlook

Key words

cellulose nanocrystals（CNCs） / chiral liquid crystal / self-assembly

Cite this article

EndNote

Ris (Procite)

Bibtex

Download Citations

Siyu Li , Yifan Liu , Yuancai Lv , et al . Preparation and Application of Cellulose Nanocrystalline Chiral Liquid Crystals[J]. Progress in Chemistry. 2025, 37(5): 670-685 https://doi.org/10.7536/PC240616

References

List( Publishing order | Descend order by publishing year | Descend order by cited within ) Chart analysis

[1]	Tang L R, Huang B, Dai D S, Ou W, Li Y H, Chen X R. Sci. Silvae Sin., 2011, 47(9): 119. (唐丽荣, 黄彪, 戴达松, 欧文, 李玉华, 陈学榕. 林业科学, 2011, 47(9): 119.). Cited in this article [2]

[2]	Favier V, Chanzy H, Cavaille J Y. Macromolecules, 1995, 28(18): 6365. Cited in this article [1]

[3]	Shopsowitz K E, Hamad W Y, MacLachlan M J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2011, 50(46): 10991. Cited in this article [1]

[4]	Ding Z Y, Ding R, Zheng X, Chen X. J. Fujian Norm. Univ. Nat. Sci. Ed., 2021, 37(6): 38. (丁紫怡, 丁蕊, 郑曦, 陈晓. 福建师范大学学报(自然科学版), 2021, 37(6): 38.). Cited in this article [1]

[5]	Jiang H J. Doctoral Dissertation of Jilin University, 2019. (姜海晶. 吉林大学博士论文, 2019.). Cited in this article [1]

[6]	Herzer N, Guneysu H, Davies D J D, Yildirim D, Vaccaro A R, Broer D J, Bastiaansen C W M, Schenning A P H J. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134(18): 7608. Cited in this article [1]

[7]	Saha A, Tanaka Y, Han Y E A. Chem. Commun., 2012, 48: 4579. Cited in this article [1]

[8]	Abbasi Moud A. ACS Omega, 2022, 7(35): 30673. Cited in this article [5]

[9]	Marchessault R H, Morehead F F, Walter N M. Nature, 1959, 184(4686): 632. Cited in this article [2]

[10]	Revol J F, Bradford H, Giasson J, Marchessault R H, Gray D G. Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 1992, 14(3): 170. Cited in this article [1]

[11]	Geng Q J. Doctoral Dissertation of South China University of Technology, 2019. (耿青杰. 华南理工大学博士论文, 2019.). Cited in this article [1]

[12]	Revol J F, Bradford H, Giasson J, Marchessault R H, Gray D G. Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 1992, 14(3): 170. Cited in this article [1]

[13]	Fleming K, Gray D, Prasannan S, Matthews S. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2000, 122(21): 5224. Cited in this article [2]

[14]	Dong X M, Kimura T, Revol J F, Gray D G. Langmuir, 1996, 12(8): 2076. Cited in this article [2]

[15]	Heux L, Chauve G, Bonini C. Langmuir, 2000, 16(21): 8210. Cited in this article [1]

[16]	Yano H, Sugiyama J, Nakagaito A N, Nogi M, Matsuura T, Hikita M, Handa K. Adv. Mater., 2005, 17(2): 153. Cited in this article [6]

[17]	Araki J, Kuga S. Langmuir, 2001, 17(15): 4493. Cited in this article [7]

[18]	He J T, Bian K Q, Piao G Z. Carbohydr. Polym., 2020, 249: 116835. Cited in this article [6]

[19]	Xue L. Master’s Dissertation of Nanjing Forestry University, 2012. (薛岚. 南京林业大学硕士论文, 2012.). Cited in this article [3]

[20]	Surov O V, Voronova M I, Zakharov A G. Russ. Chem. Rev., 2017, 86(10): 907. Cited in this article [1]

[21]	Pelegrini B L, Ré F, de Oliveira M M, Fernandes T, de Oliveira J H, Oliveira A G Jr, Girotto E M, Nakamura C V, Sampaio A R, Valim A, de Souza Lima M M. Macromol. Mater. Eng., 2019, 304(8): 1900092. Cited in this article [1]

[22]	Grishkewich N, Mohammed N, Tang J, Tam K C. Corr. Opin.Colloid In., 2017, 29: 32. Cited in this article [2]

[23]	Zheng H Z. Doctoral Dissertation of Jilin University, 2018. (郑洪芝. 吉林大学博士论文, 2018.). Cited in this article [5]

[24]	J F Revol H B J G, Gray R H M A. Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 1992, 3: 170. Cited in this article [1]

[25]	Sun B, Zhang M, Hou Q X, Liu R, Wu T, Si C L. Cellulose, 2016, 23(1): 439. Cited in this article [2]

[26]	Jiang S, Farooq A, Han F Y, Liu L F. Fibres. Polym., 2021, 22(3): 647. Cited in this article [1]

[27]	Knežević M, Kramar A, Hajnrih T, Korica M, Nikolić T, Žekić A, Kostić M. J. Nat. Fibres., 2022, 19(2): 403. Cited in this article [1]

[28]	Leung A C W, Hrapovic S, Lam E, Liu Y L, Male K B, Mahmoud K A, Luong J H T. Small, 2011, 7(3): 302. Cited in this article [2]

[29]	Zhu S S, Sun H N, Mu T H, Li Q, Richel A. Food Chem., 2023, 403: 134496. Cited in this article [1]

[30]	Giese M, Blusch L K, Khan M K, MacLachlan M J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015, 54(10): 2888. Cited in this article [2]

[31]	Zhang Y P, Chodavarapu V P, Kirk A G, Andrews M P. Sens. Actuat. B Chem., 2013, 176: 692. Cited in this article [1]

[32]	Dong X M, Revol J F, Gray D G. Cellulose, 1998, 5(1): 19. Cited in this article [1]

[33]	Qi Y G, Wang S H, Liza A A, Li J M, Yang G H, Zhu W Y, Song J L, Xiao H N, Li H M, Guo J Q. Carbohydr. Polym., 2023, 319: 121146. Cited in this article [3]

[34]	Dai L L, Li W, Cao J, Li J, Liu S X. Polym. Mater. Sci. Eng., 2016, 32(8): 115. (代林林, 李伟, 曹军, 李坚, 刘守新. 高分子材料科学与工程, 2016, 32(8): 115.). Cited in this article [1]

[35]	Geng L H, Peng X F, Zhan C B, Naderi A, Sharma P R, Mao Y M, Hsiao B S. Cellulose, 2017, 24(12): 5417.

[36]	Qian Z. Master’s Dissertation of Nanjing Forestry University, 2013. (钱赟. 南京林业大学硕士论文, 2013.).

[37]	Saito T, Hirota M, Tamura N, Isogai A. J. Wood Sci., 2010, 56(3): 227.

[38]	de Nooy A E J, Besemer A C, van Bekkum H. Carbohydr. Res., 1995, 269(1): 89.

[39]	He J T, Liu S T, Li L, Piao G Z. Carbohydr. Polym., 2017, 164: 364. Cited in this article [2]

[40]	Fan W, Li J Q, Wei L H, Xu Y. Carbohydr. Polym., 2022, 289: 119442. Cited in this article [6]

[41]	Li N. Master’s Dissertation of Qingdao University of Science and Technology, 2019. (李娜. 青岛科技大学硕士论文, 2019.). Cited in this article [1]

[42]	Lam E, Leung A C W, Liu Y L, Majid E, Hrapovic S, Male K B, Luong J H T. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2013, 1(2): 278. Cited in this article [1]

[43]	Zhou L J, Li N, Shu J, Liu Y X, Wang K T, Cui X, Yuan Y, Ding B B, Geng Y, Wang Z L, Duan Y X, Zhang J M. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2018, 6(9): 12403. Cited in this article [7]

[44]	Liu Y K, Wei Y, He Y Y, Qian Y Y, Wang C Y, Chen G. ACS Omega, 2023, 8(17): 15114. Cited in this article [1]

[45]	Castro-Guerrero C F, Gray D G. Cellulose, 2014, 21(4): 2567. Cited in this article [1]

[46]	Chen L H, Zhu J Y, Baez C, Kitin P, Elder T. Green Chem., 2016, 18(13): 3835. Cited in this article [1]

[47]	Wang Y B, Si X Q, Chen J L, Ren Z W, Zhu X H, Lu F. Asian J. Org. Chem., 2022, 11(9): e202200407. Cited in this article [1]

[48]	Yu H Y, Abdalkarim S Y H, Zhang H, Wang C, Tam K C. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2019, 7(5): 4912. Cited in this article [1]

[49]	Fu X T, Ji H R, Wang B S, Zhu W Y, Pang Z Q, Dong C H. Cellulose, 2020, 27(3): 1289. Cited in this article [1]

[50]	Du H S. Master’s Dissertation of Tianjin University of Science and Technology, 2017. (杜海顺. 天津科技大学硕士论文, 2017.). Cited in this article [1]

[51]	Li D, Henschen J, Ek M. Green Chem., 2017, 19(23): 5564. Cited in this article [3]

[52]	Jia W, Liu Y. Cellulose, 2019, 26(15): 8351. Cited in this article [3]

[53]	Lin C X, Chen B Q, Liu Y S, Chen Y T, Liu M H, Zhu J Y. Carbohydr. Polym., 2021, 264: 118039. Cited in this article [3]

[54]	Lin C X, Wang P, Liu Y F, Lv Y C, Ye X X, Liu M H, Zhu J Y. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2023, 11(21): 8035. Cited in this article [8]

[55]	Kimura F, Kimura T, Tamura M, Hirai A, Ikuno M, Horii F. Langmuir, 2005, 21(5): 2034. Cited in this article [2]

[56]	Liu H, Wang Z H, Xin H W, Liu J, Wang Q Q, Pang B, Zhang K. ACS Nano, 2024, 18(34): 22675. Cited in this article [1]

[57]	Hu Y, Abidi N. Langmuir, 2016, 32(38): 9863. Cited in this article [3]

[58]	Duan M. Master’s Dissertation of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, 2019. (段敏. 陕西科技大学硕士论文, 2019.). Cited in this article [3]

[59]	Beck-Candanedo S, Roman M, Gray D G. Biomacromolecules, 2005, 6(2): 1048. Cited in this article [1]

[60]	Zhang Y Y, Cheng Q Y, Chang C Y, Zhang L N. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2018, 135(24): 45702. Cited in this article [3]

[61]	Bertsch P, Isabettini S, Fischer P. Biomacromolecules, 2017, 18(12): 4060. Cited in this article [1]

[62]	An B, Xu M C, Ma C H, Luo S, Li W, Liu S X. Journal of Macromolecules, 2022, 53: 211. (安邦, 徐明聪, 马春慧, 罗沙, 李伟, 刘守新. 高分子学报, 2022, 53: 211.). Cited in this article [1]

[63]	Edgar C D, Gray D G. Cellulose, 2001, 8(1): 5. Cited in this article [1]

[64]	Hirai A, Inui O, Horii F, Tsuji M. Langmuir, 2009, 25(1): 497. Cited in this article [6]

[65]	Liu D G, Wang S, Ma Z S, Tian D L, Gu M Y, Lin F Y. RSC Adv., 2014, 4(74): 39322. Cited in this article [1]

[66]	Liu S T, Zhang D W, Piao G Z. Chin. J. Liq. Cryst. Disp., 2015, 30(2): 229. (刘思彤, 张大为, 朴光哲. 液晶与显示, 2015, 30(2): 229.). Cited in this article [3]

[67]	Lu D, Li M F, Gao X Q, Yu X, Wei L H, Zhu S J, Xu Y. ACS Nano, 2023, 17(1): 461. Cited in this article [3]

[68]	Pan J H, Hamad W, Straus S K. Macromolecules, 2010, 43(8): 3851. Cited in this article [1]

[69]	Frka-Petesic B, Guidetti G, Kamita G, Vignolini S. Adv. Mater., 2017, 29: 1701469. Cited in this article [6]

[70]	Chen T X, Zhao Q L, Meng X, Li Y, Peng H, Whittaker A K, Zhu S M. ACS Nano, 2020, 14(8): 9440. Cited in this article [3]

[71]	Revol J F, Godbout L, Dong X-M, Gray D G, Chanzy H, Maret G. Liq. Cryst., 1994, 16(1): 127. Cited in this article [1]

[72]	Li P. Doctoral Dissertation of Jilin University, 2023. (李平. 吉林大学博士论文, 2023.). Cited in this article [3]

[73]	Beck S, Bouchard J, Berry R. Biomacromolecules, 2011, 12(1): 167. Cited in this article [1]

[74]	He Y D, Zhang Z L, Xue J, Wang X H, Song F, Wang X L, Zhu L L, Wang Y Z. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2018, 10(6): 5805. Cited in this article [3]

[75]	Yao K, Meng Q J, Bulone V, Zhou Q. Adv. Mater., 2017, 29(28): 1701323. Cited in this article [3]

[76]	Kamita G, Frka-Petesic B, Allard A, Dargaud M, King K, Dumanli A G, Vignolini S. Adv. Opt. Mater., 2016, 4(12): 1950. Cited in this article [3]

[77]	Azzam F, Heux L, Jean B. Langmuir, 2016, 32(17): 4305. Cited in this article [1]

[78]	Guo M N. Master’s Dissertation of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, 2022. (郭梦娜. 南京信息工程大学硕士论文, 2022.). Cited in this article [1]

[79]	Wang Z L, Li N, Zong L, Zhang J M. Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci., 2019, 23(3): 142. Cited in this article [1]

[80]	Frka-Petesic B, Radavidson H, Jean B, Heux L. Adv. Mater., 2017, 29(11): 1606208. Cited in this article [3]

[81]	Hu H, Zhang X, Liu W, Hou Q X, Wang Y X. Chem. Eng. J., 2023, 474: 145980. Cited in this article [1]

[82]	Fernandes S N, Geng Y, Vignolini S, Glover B J, Trindade A C, Canejo J P, Almeida P L, Brogueira P, Godinho M H. Macromol. Chem. Phys., 2013, 214(1): 25. Cited in this article [1]

[83]	Zhao G M, Huang Y P, Mei C T, Zhai S C, Xuan Y, Liu Z P, Pan M Z, Rojas O J. Small, 2021, 17(50): 2103936. Cited in this article [5]

[84]	Xing L X, Li G H, Sun Y P, Wang X, Yuan Z W, Fu Y J, Qin M H. Carbohydr. Polym., 2023, 313: 120856. Cited in this article [3]

[85]	Duan C L, Wang B, Li J P, Xu J, Zeng J S, Li J, Zhao Z J, Gao W H, Ying G D, Chen K F. Small, 2022, 18(49): 2204199. Cited in this article [5]

[86]	Chen R L, Feng D C, Chen G J, Chen X D, Hong W. Adv. Funct. Mater., 2021, 31(16): 2009916. Cited in this article [5]

[87]	Shopsowitz K E, Qi H, Hamad W Y, MacLachlan M J. Nature, 2010, 468(7322): 422. Cited in this article [3]

[88]	Shopsowitz K E, Stahl A, Hamad W Y, MacLachlan M J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012, 51(28): 6886. Cited in this article [3]

[89]	Sun J J, Liu J Y, Yu W D, Tan J L, Yin Y J, Wang C X. ACS Appl. Polym. Mater., 2022, 4(12): 8952. Cited in this article [3]

[90]	Leng J X, Li G H, Ji X X, Yuan Z W, Fu Y J, Li H G, Qin M H, Moehwald H. J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018, 6(9): 2396. Cited in this article [7]

[91]	Chen L, Cao W, Grishkewich N, Berry R M, Tam K C. J. Colloid Interface Sci., 2015, 450: 101. Cited in this article [1]

[92]	Kose O, Tran A, Lewis L, Hamad W Y, MacLachlan M J. Nat. Commun., 2019, 10: 510. Cited in this article [5]

[93]	Jin K X, Xing J X, Liu X G, Jiang Z H, Yang S M, Yang X, Ma J F. J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9(47): 26999. Cited in this article [5]

[94]	Feng K, Dong C L, Gao Y L, Jin Z X. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2021, 9(19): 6764. Cited in this article [7]

[95]	Wang C, Song F, Wang X L, Wang Y Z. Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 2022, 209: 464. Cited in this article [3]

[96]	Wang S S, Han Y H, Lin Z R, Li M. Journal of Fujian Normal University (Natural Science Edition), 2021, 37: 1. (王珊珊, 韩永和, 林志蓉, 李敏. 福建师范大学学报(自然科学版), 2021, 37: 1.).