Unique Optical Properties of Cellulosic Materials

Abstract

Our natural environment inspires much of our innovation in all fields of research and application. In particular, unique optical properties are observed in natural systems such as bioluminescence and structural colors generated by bioengineering specific nanostructures. Cellulose is one such naturally occurring material that has been particularly surprising and impactful. Cellulose is one of the most abundant biopolymers with incredible versatility and distinct optical properties. Cellulose nanomaterials can readily self-assemble into chiral nematic phases which induces birefringence resulting in unique optical properties as well as causing incident irradiation to be circularly polarized. These properties unlock possibilities for cellulose materials to be used in encryption and sensing applications to name a few. Thus, cellulose materials have been used extensively as chiral scaffolds in composites but not as luminophores themselves in circularly polarized luminescent (CPL) materials. Recent discovery of the intrinsic luminescence of cellulose has expanded the use of cellulose materials in optical applications.