Revealing the Structural Coloration of Self-Assembled Chitin Nanocrystal Films.

ABSTRACT: The structural coloration of arthropods often arises from helicoidal structures made primarily of chitin. Although it is possible to achieve analogous helicoidal architectures by exploiting the self-assembly of chitin nanocrystals (ChNCs), to date no evidence of structural coloration has been reported from such structures. Previous studies are identified to have been constrained by both the experimental inability to access sub-micrometer helicoidal pitches and the intrinsically low birefringence of crystalline chitin. To expand the range of accessible pitches, here, ChNCs are isolated from two phylogenetically distinct sources of α-chitin, namely fungi and shrimp, while to increase the birefringence, an in situ alkaline treatment is performed, increasing the intensity of the reflected colo

SUBMITTER: Narkevicius A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11475362 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature