title: Chiral nematic self-assembly of minimally surface damaged chitin nanofibrils and its load bearing functions.
abstract: Chitin is one of the most abundant biomaterials in nature, with 10(10) tons produced annually as hierarchically organized nanofibril fillers to reinforce the exoskeletons of arthropods. This green and cheap biomaterial has attracted great attention due to its potential application to reinforce biomedical materials. Despite that, its practical use is limited since the extraction of chitin nanofibrils requires surface modification involving harsh chemical treatments, leading to difficulties in reproducing their natural prototypal hierarchical structure, i.e. chiral nematic phase. Here, we develop a chemical etching-free approach using calcium ions, called "natural way", to disintegrate the chitin nanofibrils while keeping the essential moiety for the self-assembly, ultimately resulting in the reproduction of chitin's natural chiral structure in a polymeric matrix. This chiral chitin nanostructure exceptionally toughens the composite. Our resultant chiral nematic phase of chitin materials can contribute to the understanding and use of the reinforcing strategy in nature.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Industrial Chemical Biotechnology, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan 44429, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dongyeop X
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology and KINC, KAIST, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yun Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hoang-Linh
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hwa Heon
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Je
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology.|Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jho
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.|School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology and KINC, KAIST, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Ki
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000737:chemistry; D020811:Biomedical Technology / Q000379:methods; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry; D002686:Chitin / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D002686:Chitin; D002118:Calcium