Assembly, Gelation, and Helicoidal Consolidation of Nanocellulose Dispersions.

The ability to probe the assembly, gelation, and helicoidal consolidation of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) dispersions at high concentrations can provide unique insight into the assembly and can assist optimized manufacturing of CNC-based photonic and structural materials. In this Feature Article, we review and discuss the concentration dependence of the structural features, characterized by the particle separation distance and the helical pitch, at CNC concentrations ( c) that range from the isotropic state, over the biphasic range, to the fully liquid crystalline state. The structure evolution of CNC dispersions probed by time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering during evaporation-induced assembly highlighted the importance of gelation and consolidation at high concentrations. We briefly discuss how the homogeneity of helicoidal nanostructures in dry CNC films can be improved and present an outlook for future work.