Handbook of Nanocellulose and Cellulose Nanocomposites. Editors (original) (raw)

Cellulose is a widespread renewable natural polymer, which is the most appropriate for preparation of various types of nanomaterials. Being typical nanostructured polymer, cellulose contains nanofibrils, nanocrystallites, paracrystalline nanolayers and amorphous nanodomains, which allow produce various kinds of the nanomaterials: cellulose nanofibrils, cellulose nanocrystals, particles o f amorphous nanocellulose and cellulose nanoyarn. Besides bacterial nanocellulose is a natural source of biosynthesized cellulose nanofibrils. In this chapter, the modern methods of structural investigations of various nanocellulose kinds are described. To characterize the structure of nanocellulose (NC), the main structural characteristics should be determined such as dimensions, shape, aspect ratio, specific surface area, charge, parameters of crystalline structure, purity, DP, etc. Effect of structural characteristics of NC of various kinds on their chemical, physico-chemical and physico-mechanical properties is discussed. Furthermore, specific structural features and properties of the nanocellulose kinds are shown.