Recently, the importance of high performance nanocellulose-based materials has been fully recognized due to the increasing demand for sustainable materials. To investigate the nanoscopic and microscopic structures of nanocelluloses extracted from different sources and/or processing conditions, advanced characterization techniques such as small/wide angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) techniques have been commonly used. So far, the analytical approaches to extract structural information from SAXS profile usually involve pre-defined geometrical models such as cylindrical, parallelepiped and ribbon. However, these approaches have often revealed cross-sectional sizes/shapes that are different from the assumed size/shape of the elementary nanofibril, the building block of any plant cell. In this study, we have developed a new analytical technique, in which we combined both numerical simulations and analytical fitting with quantized polydispersity of elementary fibril. The approach not only resolved the discrepancy between the measured cross-section dimensions and those of elementary nanofibril, but also provided a new perspective of nanocellulose particle - it actually consists of aggregates of elementary fibrils. Furthermore, the approach indirectly confirmed that the elementary cellulose nanofibril consists of 18 cellulose chains, which is expected from the cellulose synthesis in the plant cell.

Cellulose nanofibril’s cross-section determined through quantized polydispersity fitting of small-angle X-ray scattering data

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

[Author Benefits](https://scimeetings.acs.org/?utm_source=pubs_content_marketing&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=0320_MCF_NPI_Launch_Spring_Homepage&ref=pubs_content_marketing)

[How to use SciMeetings](https://storage.googleapis.com/dl.morressier.com/acs/SciMeetings-ACSSpring2020-HowToGuide_M3020-Final.pdf)

[Frequently Asked Questions](https://storage.googleapis.com/dl.morressier.com/acs/SciMtng_ACSNMSp2020_FAQ_M3120_Final.pdf)

ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.