Chiral nematic liquid crystals, which consist of mesogens organized into a long-range helical assembly, exhibit unique properties, such as the selective reflection of circularly polarized light. The incorporation of chiral nematic organization into solid-state materials could give rise to novel properties. Chiral assembled materials have received increasing attention in many research areas as new functional composite materials, especially focusing on their potential application in sensors and enantiomeric resolution. Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) is a kind of rod-like nanomaterial obtained from inexpensive renewable biomass, which organizes into a chiral nematic liquid crystal phase via self-assembly in certain circumstance. Taking advantage of the chiral nematic order and nanoscale of the NCC templates, new functional materials can be prepared. Chiral assembled materials based on NCC represent a major branch of future research because of their abundance, simple synthesis and other novel properties. In this paper, the formation, tuning and application of NCC chiral nematic structure are reviewed, especially for the tuning method which included the effect of NCC properties, circumstance, additives. Recent efforts to use NCC chiral nematic structure for application in optical and electronic materials and template are also summarized. The examples covered in this account demonstrate that there is a rich diversity of composite materials accessible using NCC templating.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Formation and characterization of NCC chiral nematic liquid crystal phase
2.1 Formation of NCC chiral nematic liquid crystal phase
2.2 Characterization of NCC chiral nematic liquid crystal phase
3 Tuning of NCC chiral nematic liquid crystal phase
3.1 NCC properties
3.2 Ion strength
3.3 Sonication
3.4 Temperature
3.5 Additives
4 Application of NCC chiral nematic liquid crystal phase
4.1 Optical and electronic materials
4.2 Chiral carbon materials
4.3 Chiral inorganic materials
4.4 Chiral organic materials
5 Conclusion