Self-assembly of Cellulose Nanocrystals in Spatial Confinement: from Colloidal Liquid Crystals to Functional Materials

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), as one of the most promising bioderived materials, have many important applications in the fields of energy, biomedicine and photonic materials because of their abundance, biocompatibility, and ability to form photonic structures. This perspective highlights the recent advances in the self-assembly of CNCs in spatially confined geometry. We review the preparation of CNCs, the cholesteric liquid crystal formed by CNCs, photonic materials derived from CNCs, self-assembly of CNCs in the droplets and cylindrical capillary and functional materials based on the confined assembly of CNCs, and discuss the new research directions in the self-assembly of CNCs in spatial confinement.