Hydration-Induced Orientation and Pitch Modulation in Chiral Nematic Cellulose Nanocrystal Films Revealed by Grazing-Incidence X-ray Scattering
hydration-induced expansion, and (ii) enabling axial reorientation of crystals partially from the (11̅0) to the (110) plane through enhanced rotational freedom. These transformations increase the helical pitch, producing a redshift from blue to red and near-infrared. The dual role of water as a spacer an rotational mediator explains CNC self-assembly dynamics and establishes a designframework for humidity-responsive photonic materials based on sustainable colloidal architectures.
Authors
- Orlando José Rojas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4036-4020)
- Amin Babaei‐Ghazvini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9740-5626)
- Mahyar Panahi‐Sarmad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8918-4875)
- Bishnu Acharya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2442-0969)
- Tianyu Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1297-0341)
Institutions
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Saskatchewan (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Published
- 2026-04-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c03562
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Cellulose Research Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- University of Saskatchewan
- Ministry of Agriculture - Saskatchewan
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
- Canada Excellence Research Chairs, Government of Canada
- Mitacs
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Government of Saskatchewan