Computer simulation studies of microcrystalline cellulose Iβ

Kinetics of Water Vapor Sorption in Wood Cell Walls: State of the Art and Research Needs

Water vapor sorption is the most fundamental aspect of wood-moisture relations. It is directly or indirectly related to the physical properties of wood and the onset of wood-damage mechanisms. While sorption properties of cellulosic materials have been utilized since antiquity, the time-dependent transition from one moisture content to another (i.e., sorption kinetics) has received much less attention. In this critical review, we present the state-of-the-art of water vapor sorption kinetics in wood. We first examine different experimental methods that have been used to measure sorption kinetics, from the quartz helix vacuum balance beginning in earnest in the 1930s, to automated sorption balances used recently. We then give an overview of experimental observations and describe the physical phenomena that occur during the sorption process, which potentially govern the following kinetics: boundary layer mass transfer resistance, heat of sorption, cell wall diffusion, swelling, and polymer mobility. Finally, we evaluate theoretical models that have been proposed for describing sorption kinetics, considering both experimental data and the physical processes described in the previous section. It is clear that no previously developed model can phenomenologically describe the sorption process. Instead, new models are needed. We conclude that the development of new models will require more than simple gravimetric measurements. In addition to mass changes, complementary techniques are needed to probe other important physical quantities on multiple length scales.

Wood–Moisture Relationships Studied with Molecular Simulations: Methodological Guidelines

This paper aims at providing a methodological framework for investigating wood polymers using atomistic modeling, namely, molecular dynamics (MD) and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations. Atomistic simulations are used to mimic water adsorption and desorption in amorphous polymers, make observations on swelling, mechanical softening, and on hysteresis. This hygromechanical behavior, as observed in particular from the breaking and reforming of hydrogen bonds, is related to the behavior of more complex polymeric composites. Wood is a hierarchical material, where the origin of wood-moisture relationships lies at the nanoporous material scale. As water molecules are adsorbed into the hydrophilic matrix in the cell walls, the induced fluid–solid interaction forces result in swelling of these cell walls. The interaction of the composite polymeric material, that is the layer S2 of the wood cell wall, with water is known to rearrange its internal material structure, which makes it moisture sensitive, influencing its physical properties. In-depth studies of the coupled effects of water sorption on hygric and mechanical properties of different polymeric components can be performed with atomistic modeling. The paper covers the main components of knowledge and good practice for such simulations.

Nanomechanics of cellulose deformation reveal molecular defects that facilitate natural deconstruction

Technologies surrounding utilization of cellulosic materials have been integral to human society for millennia. In many materials, controlled introduction of defects provides a means to tailor properties, introduce reactivity, and modulate functionality for various applications. The importance of defects in defining the behavior of cellulose is becoming increasingly recognized. However, fully exploiting defects in cellulose to benefit biobased materials and conversion applications will require an improved understanding of the mechanisms of defect induction and corresponding molecular-level consequences. We have identified a fundamental relationship between the macromolecular structure and mechanical behavior of cellulose nanofibrils whereby molecular defects may be induced when the fibrils are subjected to bending stress exceeding a certain threshold. By nanomanipulation, imaging, and molecular modeling, we demonstrate that cellulose nanofibrils tend to form kink defects in response to bending stress, and that these macromolecular features are often accompanied by breakages in the glucan chains. Direct observation of deformed cellulose fibrils following partial enzymatic digestion reveals that processive cellulases exploit these defects as initiation sites for hydrolysis. Collectively, our findings provide a refined understanding of the interplay between the structure, mechanics, and reactivity of cellulose assemblies.

Fluorescent Dye Adsorption in Aqueous Suspension to Produce Tagged Cellulose Nanofibers for Visualization on Paper

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) have great potential to be a layer in packaging materials because of their good barrier properties. When paper is coated with CNFs, they are difficult to distinguish from the base sheet. This issue creates challenges when trying to determine where CNFs migrate relative to the paper fibers during coating and drying. A three- dimensional analysis is possible by using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) if CNFs can be tagged with fluorescently active groups. In this study, CNFs were fluorescently tagged through adsorption of fluorescent dyes such as fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and thioflavin by mixing with CNFs in their native suspension followed by purification. The adsorbed dye remained attached during typical coating procedures, low pH values, and high ionic strengths, but not for high pH and in contact with acetone. CNFs were also covalently tagged with FITC following methods reported in the literature as a comparison to already established methods for tagging cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). Images of never dried samples indicated that covalently tagging CNFs altered the state of the fines dispersion, while dye adsorption did not. Coatings of the adsorbed dye tagged CNFs on paper were successfully imaged by CLSM since the concentration of dye in the water phase was low enough to provide a good contrast between regions of CNFs and paper. With this method, the location and potential migration of CNFs coated on paper were successfully determined for the first time to the best of our knowledge. CNF based coatings with solids larger than 2.8% were found to have a distinct layer of CNFs at the paper surface with little CNFs penetrating into the paper structure, but lower solids result in significant penetration into the paper.

Molecular insight into the wetting behavior and amphiphilic character of cellulose nanocrystals

The study of nanocellulose is a field of growing interest due to its many applications and its use in the development of biocompatible and eco-friendly materials. In spite of the vast number of studies in the field, many questions about the role of the molecular structure in the properties of cellulose are still subject of debate. One of these fundamental questions is the possible amphiphilic nature of cellulose and the relative role of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic effect on the interactions of cellulose. In this work we present an extensive molecular dynamics simulation study of this question by analyzing the wetting of cellulose with water and organic solvent, its interaction with hydrophilic and hydrophobic ions and its interaction with a protein (human epidermal growth factor, hEGF). We consider two characteristic cellulose crystal planes of Iβ cellulose with very different roughness, different hydrogen bonding capability and different exposure of cellulose hydrophobic groups (the (010) plane which has exposed -OH groups and the (100) plane with buried -OH groups). Our results show that both surfaces are simultaneously hydrophilic and lipophilic, with both surfaces having very similar contact angles. In spite of the global similarity of wetting of both surfaces, the molecular details of wetting are very different and substantial local wetting heterogeneities (which strongly depend on the surface) appear for both solvents. We also observe a weak interaction of both surfaces with hydrophobic and hydrophilic solutes. These weak interactions are attributed to the simultaneous lipophilic and hydrophilic character of both (100) and (010) cellulose surfaces. Interestingly, we found a substantial interaction of both cellulose planes with polar and apolar residues of the hEGF protein.

Thermodynamic Signatures of Substrate Binding for Three Thermobifida fusca Cellulases with Different Modes of Action

The enzymatic breakdown of recalcitrant polysaccharides is achieved by synergistic enzyme cocktails of glycoside hydrolases (GHs) and accessory enzymes. Many GHs are processive, meaning that they stay bound to the substrate between subsequent catalytic interactions. Cellulases are GHs that catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose [β-1,4-linked glucose (Glc)]. Here, we have determined the relative subsite binding affinity for a glucose moiety as well as the thermodynamic signatures for (Glc)₆ binding to three of the seven cellulases produced by the bacterium Thermobifida fusca. TfCel48A is exo-processive, TfCel9A endo-processive, and TfCel5A endo-nonprocessive. Initial hydrolysis of (Glc)₅ and (Glc)₆ was performed in H₂¹⁸O enabling the incorporation of an ¹⁸O atom at the new reducing end anomeric carbon. A matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis of the products reveals the intensity ratios of otherwise identical ¹⁸O- and ¹⁶O-containing products to provide insight into how the substrate is placed during productive binding. The two processive cellulases have significant binding affinity in subsites where products dissociate during processive hydrolysis, aligned with a need to have a pushing potential to remove obstacles on the substrate. Moreover, we observed a correlation between processive ability and favorable binding free energy, as previously postulated. Upon ligand binding, the largest contribution to the binding free energy is desolvation for all three cellulases as determined by isothermal titration calorimetry. The two endo-active cellulases show a more favorable solvation entropy change compared to the exo-active cellulase, while the two processive cellulases have less favorable changes in binding enthalpy compared to the nonprocessive TfCel5A.

Molecular dynamics simulations of theoretical cellulose nanotube models

Nanotubes are remarkable nanoscale architectures for a wide range of potential applications. In the present paper, we report a molecular dynamics (MD) study of the theoretical cellulose nanotube (CelNT) models to evaluate their dynamic behavior in solution (either chloroform or benzene). Based on the one-quarter chain staggering relationship, we constructed six CelNT models by combining the two chain polarities (parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP)) and three symmetry operations (helical right (H_R), helical left (H_L), and rotation (R)) to generate a circular arrangement of molecular chains. Among the four models that retained the tubular form (P-H_R, P-H_L, P-R, and AP-R), the P-R and AP-R models have the lowest steric energies in benzene and chloroform, respectively. The structural features of the CelNT models were characterized in terms of the hydroxymethyl group conformation and intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Solvent structuring more clearly occurred with benzene than chloroform, suggesting that the CelNT models may disperse in benzene.

Liquid Water Confined in Cellulose with Variable Interfacial Hydrophilicity

We investigate liquid water confined within nanoscale cellulose slabs by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Depending on the construction of the cellulose–water interface, two different surface structures with distinct levels of hydrophilicity are exposed to the water. The different philicities are reflected in the response of the water phase to this geometric confinement, both in terms of the density profile and in the strength of the aqueous hydrogen bonding network. At the smooth surface cut along the (010) axis of the cellulose crystal, water shows typical properties of a hydrophilic confinement: the density shows fluctuations that disappear further away from the wall, the water molecules orient themselves and the coordination numbers increases at the interface. As a consequence, the water becomes “harder” at the interface, with a considerably increased local ordering. At the zigzag-shaped surface along the (111) axis, the degree of hydrophilicity is reduced, and only small effects can be seen: the density shows weak fluctuations, and the orientation of the water molecules is closer to that of bulk water than to the smooth surface. The local coordination numbers remains constant over the whole confinement. Our work shows that the nature of the exposed cellulose interface has a strong influence on how the structure of adjacent water is modified. The different ways of surface construction yield distinct degrees of hydrophilicity and spatial accessibility regarding the hydrogen bond network, resulting in a notably different interfacial water structure.

Comparing the physiochemical parameters of three celluloses reveals new insights into substrate suitability for fungal enzyme production

Background

The industrial applications of cellulases are mostly limited by the costs associated with their production. Optimized production pathways are therefore desirable. Based on their enzyme inducing capacity, celluloses are commonly used in fermentation media. However, the influence of their physiochemical characteristics on the production process is not well understood. In this study, we examined how physical, structural and chemical properties of celluloses influence cellulase and hemicellulase production in an industrially-optimized and a non-engineered filamentous fungus: Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 and Neurospora crassa. The performance was evaluated by quantifying gene induction, protein secretion and enzymatic activities.

Results

Among the three investigated substrates, the powdered cellulose was found to be the most impure, and the residual hemicellulosic content was efficiently perceived by the fungi. It was furthermore found to be the least crystalline substrate and consequently was the most readily digested cellulose in vitro. In vivo however, only RUT-C30 was able to take full advantage of these factors. When comparing carbon catabolite repressed and de-repressed strains of T. reesei and N. crassa, we found that cre1/cre-1 is at least partially responsible for this observation, but that the different wiring of the molecular signaling networks is also relevant.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that crystallinity and hemicellulose content are major determinants of performance. Moreover, the genetic background between WT and modified strains greatly affects the ability to utilize the cellulosic substrate. By highlighting key factors to consider when choosing the optimal cellulosic product for enzyme production, this study has relevance for the optimization of a critical step in the biotechnological (hemi-) cellulase production process.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s40694-017-0039-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Hydrogen bonds and twist in cellulose microfibrils

There is increasing experimental and computational evidence that cellulose microfibrils can exist in a stable twisted form. In this study, atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to investigate the importance of intrachain hydrogen bonds on the twist in cellulose microfibrils. We systematically enforce or block the formation of these intrachain hydrogen bonds by either constraining dihedral angles or manipulating charges. For the majority of simulations a consistent right handed twist is observed. The exceptions are two sets of simulations that block the O2-O6' intrachain hydrogen bond, where no consistent twist is observed in multiple independent simulations suggesting that the O2-O6' hydrogen bond can drive twist. However, in a further simulation where exocyclic group rotation is also blocked, right-handed twist still develops suggesting that intrachain hydrogen bonds are not necessary to drive twist in cellulose microfibrils.

Fibrillar assembly of bacterial cellulose in the presence of wood-based hemicelluloses

Composite materials mimicking the plant cell wall structure were made by culturing cellulose-producing bacteria together with secondary-wall hemicelluloses from wood. The effects of spruce galactoglucomannan (GGM) and beech xylan on the nanoscale morphology of bacterial cellulose were studied in the original, hydrated state with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The SAXS intensities were fitted with a model covering multiple levels of the hierarchical structure. Additional information on the structure of dried samples was obtained using scanning and transmission electron microscopy and infra-red spectroscopy. Both hemicelluloses induced a partial conversion of the cellulose crystal structure from I_α to I_β and a reduction of the cross-sectional dimensions of the cellulose microfibrils, thereby affecting also their packing into bundles. The differences were more pronounced in samples with xylan instead of GGM, and they became more significant with higher hemicellulose concentrations.

Dynamically Controlled Iridescence of Cholesteric Cellulose Nanocrystal Suspensions Using Electric Fields

Cellulose nanocrystal suspensions in apolar solvent spontaneously form iridescent liquid-crystalline phases but the control of their macroscopic order is usually poor. The use of electric fields can provide control on the cholesteric orientation and its periodicity, allowing macroscopic sample homogeneity and dynamical tuning of their iridescent hues, and is demonstrated here.

Water in cellulose: evidence and identification of immobile and mobile adsorbed phases by 2H MAS NMR

The organization of water molecules adsorbed onto cellulose and the supramolecular hydrated structure of microfibril aggregates represents, still today, one of the open and complex questions in the physical chemistry of natural polymers.

Chiral Plasmonics Using Twisting along Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Template for Gold Nanoparticles

The right-handed twist along aqueous dispersed cellulose nanocrystals allows right-handed chiral plasmonics upon electrostatic binding of gold nanoparticles in dilute environment, through tuning the particle sizes and concentrations. Simulations using nanoparticle coordinates from cryo-electron tomography confirm the experimental results. The finding suggests generalization for other chiral and helical colloidal templates for nanoscale chiral plasmonics.

Unraveling cellulose microfibrils: a twisted tale

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of cellulose microfibrils are pertinent to the paper, textile, and biofuels industries for their unique capacity to characterize dynamic behavior and atomic-level interactions with solvent molecules and cellulase enzymes. While high-resolution crystallographic data have established a solid basis for computational analysis of cellulose, previous work has demonstrated a tendency for modeled microfibrils to diverge from the linear experimental structure and adopt a twisted conformation. Here, we investigate the dependence of this twisting behavior on computational approximations and establish the theoretical basis for its occurrence. We examine the role of solvent, the effect of nonbonded force field parameters [partial charges and van der Waals (vdW) contributions], and the use of explicitly modeled oxygen lone pairs in both the solute and solvent. Findings suggest that microfibril twisting is favored by vdW interactions, and counteracted by both intrachain hydrogen bonds and solvent effects at the microfibril surface.

Optimizing Solute-Solute Interactions in the GLYCAM06 and CHARMM36 Carbohydrate Force Fields Using Osmotic Pressure Measurements

GLYCAM06 and CHARMM36 are successful force fields for modeling carbohydrates. To correct recently identified deficiencies with both force fields, we adjusted intersolute nonbonded parameters to reproduce the experimental osmotic coefficient of glucose at 1 M. The modified parameters improve behavior of glucose and sucrose up to 4 M and improve modeling of a dextran 55-mer. While the modified parameters may not be applicable to all carbohydrates, they highlight the use of osmotic simulations to optimize force fields.

Hierarchical architecture of bacterial cellulose and composite plant cell wall polysaccharide hydrogels using small angle neutron scattering

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been applied to characterise the structure of pure bacterial cellulose hydrogels, and composites thereof, with two plant cell wall polysaccharides (arabinoxylan and xyloglucan). Conventional published models, which assume that bacterial cellulose ribbons are solid one-phase systems, fail to adequately describe the SANS data of pure bacterial cellulose. Fitting of the neutron scattering profiles instead suggests that the sub-structure of cellulose microfibrils contained within the ribbons results in the creation of regions with distinct values of neutron scattering length density, when the hydrogels are subjected to H2O/D2O exchange. This may be represented within a core-shell formalism that considers the cellulose ribbons to comprise a core containing impermeable crystallites surrounded by a network of paracrystalline cellulose and tightly bound water, and a shell containing only paracrystalline cellulose and water. Accordingly, a fitting function comprising the sum of a power-law term to account for the large scale structure of intertwined ribbons, plus a core-shell cylinder with polydisperse radius, has been applied; it is demonstrated to simultaneously describe all SANS contrast variation data of pure and composite bacterial cellulose hydrogels. In addition, the resultant fitting parameters indicate distinct interaction mechanisms of arabinoxylan and xyloglucan with cellulose, revealing the potential of this approach to investigate the role of different plant cell wall polysaccharides on the biosynthesis process of cellulose.

Cellulose Nanofibrils and Mechanism of their Mineralization in Biomimetic Synthesis of Hydroxyapatite/Native Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites: Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of a nanofibril of native bacterial cellulose (BC) in solutions of mineral ions is presented. The supersaturated calcium-phosphate (CP) solution with the ionic composition of hydroxyapatite and CaCl2 solutions with the concentrations below, equal to, and above the solubility limits are simulated. The influence of solvation models (TIP3P and TIP4P-ew water models) on structural characteristics of the simulated nanofibril and on the crystal nucleation process is assessed. The structural characteristics of cellulose nanofibrils (in particular, of the surface layer) are found to be nearly independent of the solvation models used in the simulation and on the presence of ions in the solutions. It is shown that ionic clusters are formed in the solution rather than on the fibril surface. The cluster sizes are slightly different for the two water models. The effect of the ion-ion interaction parameters on the results is discussed. The main conclusion is that the activity of hydroxyl groups on the BC fibril surface is not high enough to cause adsorption of Ca(2+) ions from the solution. Therefore, the nucleation of CP crystals takes place initially in solution, and then the crystallites formed can be adsorbed on BC nanofibril surfaces.

An evaluation of dilute acid and ammonia fiber explosion pretreatment for cellulosic ethanol production

The challenge associated with cellulosic ethanol production is maximizing sugar yield at low cost. Current research is being focused to develop a pretreatment method to overcome biomass recalcitrance in an efficient way. This review is focused on two major pretreatments: dilute acid (DA) and ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX) pretreatment of corn stover and how these pretreatment cause morphological and chemical changes to corn stover in order to overcome the biomass recalcitrance. This review highlights the key differences of these two pretreatments based on compositional analysis, cellulose and its crystallinity, morphological changes, structural changes to lignin, enzymatic reactivity and enzyme adsorption onto pretreated solids and finally cellulosic ethanol production from the hydrolysate of DA and AFEX treated corn stover. Each stage of the process, AFEX pretreated corn stover was superior to DA treated corn stover.

Solid-state NMR investigations of cellulose structure and interactions with matrix polysaccharides in plant primary cell walls

Until recently, the 3D architecture of plant cell walls was poorly understood due to the lack of high-resolution techniques for characterizing the molecular structure, dynamics, and intermolecular interactions of the wall polysaccharides in these insoluble biomolecular mixtures. We introduced multidimensional solid-state NMR (SSNMR) spectroscopy, coupled with (13)C labelling of whole plants, to determine the spatial arrangements of macromolecules in near-native plant cell walls. Here we review key evidence from 2D and 3D correlation NMR spectra that show relatively few cellulose-hemicellulose cross peaks but many cellulose-pectin cross peaks, indicating that cellulose microfibrils are not extensively coated by hemicellulose and all three major polysaccharides exist in a single network rather than two separate networks as previously proposed. The number of glucan chains in the primary-wall cellulose microfibrils has been under active debate recently. We show detailed analysis of quantitative (13)C SSNMR spectra of cellulose in various wild-type (WT) and mutant Arabidopsis and Brachypodium primary cell walls, which consistently indicate that primary-wall cellulose microfibrils contain at least 24 glucan chains.

Scaling of Multimillion-Atom Biological Molecular Dynamics Simulation on a Petascale Supercomputer

A strategy is described for a fast all-atom molecular dynamics simulation of multimillion-atom biological systems on massively parallel supercomputers. The strategy is developed using benchmark systems of particular interest to bioenergy research, comprising models of cellulose and lignocellulosic biomass in an aqueous solution. The approach involves using the reaction field (RF) method for the computation of long-range electrostatic interactions, which permits efficient scaling on many thousands of cores. Although the range of applicability of the RF method for biomolecular systems remains to be demonstrated, for the benchmark systems the use of the RF produces molecular dipole moments, Kirkwood G factors, other structural properties, and mean-square fluctuations in excellent agreement with those obtained with the commonly used Particle Mesh Ewald method. With RF, three million- and five million-atom biological systems scale well up to ∼30k cores, producing ∼30 ns/day. Atomistic simulations of very large systems for time scales approaching the microsecond would, therefore, appear now to be within reach.

Polysaccharide-Protein Complexes in a Coarse-Grained Model

We construct two variants of coarse-grained models of three hexaoses: one based on the centers of mass of the monomers and the other associated with the C4 atoms. The latter is found to be better defined and more suitable for studying interactions with proteins described within α-C based models. We determine the corresponding effective stiffness constants through all-atom simulations and two statistical methods. One method is the Boltzmann inversion (BI) and the other, named energy-based (EB), involves direct monitoring of energies as a function of the variables that define the stiffness potentials. The two methods are generally consistent in their account of the stiffness. We find that the elastic constants differ between the hexaoses and are noticeably different from those determined for the crystalline cellulose Iβ. The nonbonded couplings through hydrogen bonds between different sugar molecules are modeled by the Lennard-Jones potentials and are found to be stronger than the hydrogen bonds in proteins. We observe that the EB method agrees with other theoretical and experimental determinations of the nonbonded parameters much better than BI. We then consider the hexaose-Man5B catalytic complexes and determine the contact energies between their the C4-α-C atoms. These interactions are found to be stronger than the proteinic hydrogen bonds: about four times as strong for cellohexaose and two times for mannohexaose. The fluctuational dynamics of the coarse-grained complexes are found to be compatible with previous all-atom studies by Bernardi et al.

Electric Interfacial Layer of Modified Cellulose Nanocrystals in Aqueous Electrolyte Solution: Predictions by the Molecular Theory of Solvation

The X-ray crystal structure-based models of Iα cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), both pristine and containing surface sulfate groups with negative charge 0-0.34 e/nm(2) produced by sulfuric acid hydrolysis of softwood pulp, feature a highly polarized "crystal-like" charge distribution. We perform sampling using molecular dynamics (MD) of the structural relaxation of neutral pristine and negatively charged sulfated CNC of various lengths in explicit water solvent and then employ the statistical mechanical 3D-RISM-KH molecular theory of solvation to evaluate the solvation structure and thermodynamics of the relaxed CNC in ambient aqueous NaCl solution at a concentration of 0.0-0.25 mol/kg. The MD sampling induces a right-hand twist in CNC and rearranges its initially ordered structure with a macrodipole of high-density charges at the opposite faces into small local spots of alternating charge at each face. This surface charge rearrangement observed for both neutral and charged CNC significantly affects the distribution of ions around CNC in aqueous electrolyte solution. The solvation free energy (SFE) of charged sulfated CNC has a minimum at a particular electrolyte concentration depending on the surface charge density, whereas the SFE of neutral CNC increases linearly with NaCl concentration. The SFE contribution from Na(+) counterions exhibits behavior similar to the NaCl concentration dependence of the whole SFE. An analysis of the 3D maps of Na(+) density distributions shows that these model CNC particles exhibit the behavior of charged nanocolloids in aqueous electrolyte solution: an increase in electrolyte concentration shrinks the electric interfacial layer and weakens the effective repulsion between charged CNC particles. The 3D-RISM-KH method readily treats solvent and electrolyte of a given nature and concentration to predict effective interactions between CNC particles in electrolyte solution. We provide CNC structural models and a modeling procedure for studies of effective interactions and the formation of ordered phases of CNC suspensions in electrolyte solution.

Understanding nanocellulose chirality and structure-properties relationship at the single fibril level

Nanocellulose fibrils are ubiquitous in nature and nanotechnologies but their mesoscopic structural assembly is not yet fully understood. Here we study the structural features of rod-like cellulose nanoparticles on a single particle level, by applying statistical polymer physics concepts on electron and atomic force microscopy images, and we assess their physical properties via quantitative nanomechanical mapping. We show evidence of right-handed chirality, observed on both bundles and on single fibrils. Statistical analysis of contours from microscopy images shows a non-Gaussian kink angle distribution. This is inconsistent with a structure consisting of alternating amorphous and crystalline domains along the contour and supports process-induced kink formation. The intrinsic mechanical properties of nanocellulose are extracted from nanoindentation and persistence length method for transversal and longitudinal directions, respectively. The structural analysis is pushed to the level of single cellulose polymer chains, and their smallest associated unit with a proposed 2 × 2 chain-packing arrangement.

Cellulose is a material found in many different biological systems, but the fine structure at the single-molecule level is still being assessed. Here, the authors present high-resolution imaging of cellulose structures at the single particle level, finding evidence of chirality in bundles and fibrils.