Deciphering chiral structures in soft materials via resonant soft and tender X-ray scattering

Abstract

Chirality is an essential research topic in material science, especially in soft materials including liquid crystals, polymers and biomaterials. There have been many discussions about chiral structures since people discovered and studied this particular property. Yet, due to the lack of effective characterization methods, many questions on helical structures of chiral materials remain unsolved. Here, we review recent applications of resonant soft (RSoXS) and tender resonant X-ray scattering (TReXS) on chirality study in soft materials, with a focus on liquid crystals phases. In the end, a perspective is presented on the potential applications and future improvements of resonant scattering.