Related papers: Cellulose-Based Reflective Liquid Crystal Films as…
When pursuing sustainable approaches to fabricate photonic structures, nature can be used as a source of inspiration for both the nanoarchitecture and the constituent materials. Although several biomaterials have been promised as suitable…
Most paints contain pigments that absorb light and fade over time. A robust alternative can be found in nature, where structural coloration arises from the interference of light with submicron features. Plant-derived, cellulose nanocrystals…
In this review, we first provided a brief overview of cellulose structures, categorizing various types of nanocellulose based on their production methods, and discussed different photonic structures such as cholesteric phases, photonic…
Nanoporous media exhibit structures significantly smaller than the wavelengths of visible light and can thus act as photonic metamaterials. Their optical functionality is not determined by the properties of the base materials, but rather by…
Cellulose is the most abundant bio-polymer on earth. Cellulose fibres, such as the one extracted form cotton or woodpulp, have been used by humankind for hundreds of years to make textiles and paper. Here we show how, by engineering light…
Wrought by nature's wondrous hand, surface topographies are discovered on all length scales in living creatures and serve a variety of functions. Inspired by floral striations, here we developed a scalable means of fabricating…
A very efficient method for the calculation of the effective optical response of nano-structured composite systems allows the design of metamaterials tailored for specific optical polarization properties. We use our method to design 2D…
A liquid crystal optical device made of an optically anisotropic heterostructure is considered. The device consists of a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer sandwiched by two phase-shifting anisotropic layers of a nematic liquid crystal…
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) form cholesteric architectures that can have color specific reflectivity and enable sustainable photonic films. However, achieving uniform color, suppressing iridescence, and accessing ordered defect structures…
Physical properties of composite materials can be pre-engineered by controlling their structure and composition at the mesoscale. Yet, approaches for achieving this are limited and rarely scalable. We introduce a new breed of self-assembled…
Recently, liquid-phase crystallization of thin silicon films has emerged as a promising candidate for thin-film photovoltaics. On 10 \mu m thin absorbers, wafer-equivalent morphologies and open-circuit voltages were reached, leading to a…
In this paper the state-of-the-art for exploiting the unique physical and chemical properties of crystalline materials and their possible applications for development of crystalline nanocomposites with the tailored anisotropy were…
We describe a technology for the fabrication of inexpensive and versatile mirrors through the use of a new type of nanoengineered optical material composed by the spreading of a self-assembling reflective colloidal film spread at the…
Photonic crystals and metamaterials are two overarching paradigms for manipulating light. Combining the two approaches leads to hypercrystals: hyperbolic dispersion metamaterials that undergo periodic modulation and mix…
Wearable electronics and smart textiles are growing fields in the cause to integrate modern communication and computing tools into clothing instead of carrying around smart phones and tablets. Naturally, this also requires power sources to…
Two-dimensional lattices of chiral nanoholes in a plasmonic film with lattice constants being slightly larger than light wavelength are proposed for effective control of polarization and spatial properties of light beams. Effective…
The miniaturization of diagnostic devices that exploit optical detection schemes requires the design of light-sources combining small size, high performance for effective excitation of chromophores, and mechanical flexibility for easy…
Colloidal core/shell nanocrystals are key materials for optoelectronics, enabling control over essential properties via precise engineering of the shape, thickness, and crystal lattice structure of their shell. Here, we apply the growth…
There is immense scientific interest in the properties of resonant thin films embroidered with periodic nanoscale features. This device class possesses considerable innovation potential. Accordingly, we report unpolarized broadband…
Bacterial cellulose biofilms are complex networks of strong interwoven nanofibers that control transport and protect bacterial colonies in the film. Design of diverse applications of bacterial cellulose films also relies on understanding…