Tunable mesoporous bilayer photonic resins with chiral nematic structures and actuator properties

Abstract

Chiral nematic structures with different helical pitch from layer to layer are embedded into phenol-formaldehyde bilayer resin composite films using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as templates. Selective removal of CNCs results in mesoporous resins with different pore size and helical pitch between the layers. Consequently, these materials exhibit photonic properties by selectively reflecting lights of two different wavelengths and concomitant actuation properties.

Keywords: actuators; cellulose; liquid crystal templates; mesoporous bilayer polymers; photonics.