Preparing templated optics using cellulose nanocrystal LC

Cellulose Nanocrystals are readily produced from many plant and bacterial sources and have been studied extensively for low cost self-assembled optical elements. Nanocrystals are known to form a chiral nematic phase, which allows for production of films with chiral character. I will discuss recent advances in understanding how to control the chirality of cellulose nanocrystal solutions. The Debye length of a nanocrystal solution is typically around 4nm for pH between 1.5 and 10 and abruptly drops to around 1 nm for pH lower or higher than this range. With a Debye Length of 1nm, the solution can only form nematic phase, which is more useful for production of waveplates and other birefringent optics. Additionally I will discuss the behavior of cellulose solutions with amorphous material remaining in solution which form discotic- like systems.