Major Factors Influencing the Size Distribution Analysis of Cellulose Nanocrystals Imaged in Transmission Electron Microscopy.

ABSTRACT: Size distributions of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), extracted from softwood pulp via strong sulfuric acid hydrolysis, exhibit large variability when analyzed from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. In this article, the causes of this variability are studied and discussed. In order to obtain results comparable with those reported, a reference material of CNCs (CNCD-1) was used to evaluate size distribution. CNC TEM specimens were prepared as-stained and dried with a rapid-flushing staining method or hydrated and embedded in vitreous ice with the plunge-freezing method. Several sets of bright-field TEM (BF-TEM), annular dark-field scanning TEM (ADF-STEM) and cryogenic-TEM (cryo-TEM) images were acquired for size distribution analysis to study the contributing factors. The rapid-

SUBMITTER: Qian H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8513063 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature