In situ TOF-GISANS during swelling to study depth dependent nanoparticles rearrangements in nanocellulose networks

Biocompatible cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) are widely used due to their attractive properties such as low density, lightweight, thermal stability, and good mechanical properties. These prerequisites make cellulose nanofibrils a promising precursor or nanostructured template material for the design of bio composites and bio-inspired sensors. To fulfill requirements of such devices, we need to fully understand the molecular architecture of cellulose nanofibrils in networks and in the presence of other nanoparticles. This knowledge would be beneficial to elucidate application of such networks for organic solar cells or other biocompatible sensor applications. Wolff et al. showed previously that time-of-flight grazing incidence small-angle neutron scattering (TOF-GISANS) is a non-destructive technique which can be used to study depth dependent the morphology in a “single”-shot experiment.