ABSTRACT

Natural structures exhibit spectacular properties like, for instance, the toughness of wood, the elasticity of primary walls or in the animal kingdom the iridescence of beetle shells. All those properties rely on hierarchical assemblies of nano-elements that fulfill their function at a very reasonable energy cost.

In the “Structure and properties of Glycomaterials” group, we have designed since several years a bottom-up approach that consists in a first deconstruction of the biomass followed by a rebuild with controlled elementary bricks and targeted chemistry and/or 2D or 3D self-assembling processes

In this talk I will present the general strategy followed by our research group and the techniques that we use with a focus on what is specific in the emerging class of nanocelluloses and some illustrations with very pragmatic examples like viscosifying effects, nanocomposites reinforcement or optical properties.