Emergent hybrid mesophases in ternary mixtures of cellulose nanocrystals ‐ Pluronic micelles‐water

Mixtures of nanometric rods and spherical micelles that are dominated by excluded volume (entropic) interactions tend to de-mix into sphere- rod-rich mesophases. Here we report the observation hybrid mesophases formed mixtures polymer-decorated sulfuric-acid-hydrolyzed cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs, rod-like particles), at high CNCs concentrations (7 wt%) where native suspensions bi-phasic (isotropic-chiral nematic) regime, tri-block-copolymers Pluronic F127 (and F108) in aqueous suspension. The polymers adsorb onto particles, above (10–18 macroscopic phases mixture transformed mesoscopic droplets with a nanostructure differs from or Pluronics, as indicated small-angle X-ray scattering. observed preserve chiral nematic nature shortened pitch, suggesting co-assembly self-assembling may be used for engineering emergent structures properties.