Direct imaging of the alternating disordered and crystalline structure of cellulose fibrils via super-resolution fluorescence microscopy

Cellulose, the primary component of the plant cell wall, has fueled the wood, textile, pulp and paper industries for centuries, and has recently been used for the production of renewable nanomaterials. The tight crystalline packing of glucan chains within cellulose fibrils is responsible for its superior mechanical properties but renders this material recalcitrant to biochemical and chemical breakdown and limits its use as a green resource. The …