Colours with a twist: Bio-inspired self-assembled chiral architecture

Chirality transfer across length scales is an intriguing and universal phenomenon. Both in nature and for application, complex architectures composed of bio-based chiral building blocks are responsible for unique optical responses from colorations to extremely high g-factors. When it comes to working with naturally derived chiral building blocks, however, the challenge lies in understanding how the properties of individual building blocks relate to the emergent features of large-scale architectures and structures. Our research addresses this gap by investigating the origins of mesophase chirality in bio-derived particles such as cellulose and chitin nanocrystal suspensions. Through a combination of quantitative morphological analysis of individual nanoparticles, final architecture, and their assemblies, we showcase the functionality of such chiral materials in the context of optical materials, also providing examples of how such materials can be produced at scale.