Dr. Zongzhe Li
Main Focus
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are well known for their ability to self-assemble into a chiral nematic liquid crystalline phase. By manipulating the density of this self-assembled structure (i.e., helical pitch), diverse structural colors can be achieved. Numerous factors (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, and ionic strength) have been shown to affect the self-assembly process, thereby enabling effective control of the helical pitch. However, how this photonic structure can be tuned after self-assembly is rarely explored. My goal is to study how the microstructure of self-assembled CNCs can be controlled by external factors and how their photonic properties are influenced.
I am particularly interested in:
- Behaviors of self-assembled CNCs under external stimuli
- Photonic properties of CNCs after external stimulations
- Photonic patterns generated by self-assembled CNCs under external stimuli
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Zongzhe Li is a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials, headed by Prof. Silvia Vignolini, at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.
He received a BSc in Applied Chemistry from Beihang University (Beijing, China) in 2020. After taking a gap year, he went to Canada to pursue a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Mark MacLachlan at The University of British Columbia. In September 2024, he joined the group of Prof. Raffaele Mezzenga at ETH Zürich as a Friedman Scholar for a 6-month internship. He obtained a PhD degree in Chemistry from The University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) in 2026. His doctoral research mainly focused on developing functional materials from cellulose nanocrystals, with a specific interest in their photonic properties.
In June 2026, he joined the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces as a postdoctoral scientist.
Related Publications
https://scholar-google-com.webvpn.mpikg.mpg.de/citations?user=i3WLaDUAAAAJ&hl=en
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5213-740X