writer：Zhenzhen Wan, Lu Li, Shuxun Cui*
keywords：Cellulose, imaging, AFM
source：期刊
specific source：Biopolymers, 89, 1170-1173
Issue time：2008年
Natural cellulose molecules have a strong tendency of being aggregated into larger structures. Thus the imaging of isolated individual cellulose molecules is hampered for a long time. In the present work, we manage to observe, for the first time, the isolated individual natural cellulose chains on a sample surface by means of AFM. The advantage of the ionic liquid, in which natural cellulose can be molecularly dispersed, is considered to be the key point for the successful imaging. Moreover, we find that the surface charge can influence the morphology of the single cellulose chains upon adsorption. That is, on the positively charged surface, individual cellulose chains adopt an extended conformation; while on the negatively charged surface, a compact globule conformation is observed.