Relaxation dynamics in bio-colloidal cholesteric liquid crystals confined to cylindrical geometry.

ABSTRACT: Para-nematic phases, induced by unwinding chiral helices, spontaneously relax to a chiral ground state through phase ordering dynamics that are of great interest and crucial for applications such as stimuli-responsive and biomimetic engineering. In this work, we characterize the cholesteric phase relaxation behaviors of β-lactoglobulin amyloid fibrils and cellulose nanocrystals confined into cylindrical capillaries, uncovering two different equilibration pathways. The integration of experimental measurements and theoretical predictions reveals the starkly distinct underlying mechanism behind the relaxation dynamics of β-lactoglobulin amyloid fibrils, characterized by slow equilibration achieved through consecutive sigmoidal-like steps, and of cellulose nanocrystals, characterized by fast e

SUBMITTER: Khadem SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7493995 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature