Interactions and order of cellulose microfibrils

Abstract

Cellulose is a versatile structural biomaterial with a wide range of current and potential future applications, such as food thickening agents, wound dressings, acoustic membranes and roll-to-roll electronics. In this thesis interactions and order of bacterial cellulose microfibrils are explored in regimes of Van der Waals degradation by reducing dielectric contrast and electrostatic augmentation by TEMPO-oxidation. We analyse the 2D orientational ordering and homogeneity of the samples with confocal microscopy images and discuss birefringence in the studied samples.