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Due to spontaneous organization of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) into the chiral nematic structure that can selectively reflect circularly polarized light within a visible-light region, fabricating stretching deformation-responsive CNC materials is of great interest but is still a big challenge, despite such a function widely observed from existing creatures, like a chameleon, because of the inherent brittleness. Here, a flexible network structure is introduced in CNCs, exerting a bridge effect for the rigid nanomaterials. The as-prepared films display high flexibility with a fracture strain of up to 39%. Notably, stretching-induced structural color changes visible to the naked eye are realized, for the first time, for CNC materials. In addition, the soft materials show humidity-and compressionresponsive properties in terms of changing apparent structural colors. Colored marks left by ink-free writing can be shown or hidden by controlling the environmental humidities. This biobased photonic film, acting as a new "smart skin", is potentially used with multifunctions of chromogenic sensing, encryption, and anti-counterfeit.

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As one of the most important biobased and biodegradable polymers with a promising commercial prospect, polylactic acid (PLA) has gained increasing interest. Nevertheless, its high mechanical strength is generally sacrificed when using tough matters to overcome its inherent brittleness. Concerning to develop strong and tough PLA-based materials, herein, polybutylene succinate (PBS) is blended with PLA, and epoxidized microfibrillated cellulose (MFC-EPI) is employed as an interfacial compatibilizer as well as a reinforcement filler. Effects of the amounts of PBS and MFC-EPI on crystallization behavior, thermal stability, and mechanical properties of the PLA-based materials are investigated. Notably, tensile strength and elongation at break of the resultant composite containing 2% MFC-EPI are up to 71.4 MPa and 273.6%, respectively. The “bridge” effect of the filler contributes to energy transfer and dissipation during deformation, accounting for the toughening mechanism that is confirmed by microscopy. Such a “two-in-one” modification strategy ensures the high strength and toughness, which can be used to develop more materials with high mechanical performances.

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