The construction of a new multimodal optical microscope, SCATTIRSTORM, that could enable more efficient bioenergy production, is the focus of a three-year, $1.5 million, U.S. Department of Energy ...

In a groundbreaking study on the synthesis of cellulose—a major constituent of all plant cell walls—a team of Rutgers University-New Brunswick researchers have captured images of the microscopic ...

The breakdown of cellulose is dynamic on a molecular scale, so this frame rate misses part of the process. "We plan to create a microscope that helps us understand how these enzymes work and get a ...

Tracking individual enzymes during the breakdown of cellulose for biofuel production has revealed how several roadblocks slow this process when using plant material that might otherwise go to waste.

Posted: Jul 03, 2015: Advancing the characterization of cellulose materials with state-of-the-art equipment (Nanowerk News) The Paper and Fibre Research Institute (PFI), a leading cellulose research ...

The catalyst for this potentially transformative change is a cellulose nanocrystal about 100 nanometers long and 5 nanometers wide, too small to be seen using an ordinary microscope. It can be seen ...

Material engineers at Purdue University are developing methods to use the nanocrystals that naturally give cellulose in trees and plants strength, lightweight, and resilience ...

The efficient use of cellulose—the primary plant scaffold and a major natural building block—could address many issues associated with petroleum-based polymers across various industries. In the search ...

The microscope-generated video images show protoplasts—cells with their walls removed—of cabbage's cousin, the flowering plant Arabidopsis, chaotically sprouting filaments of cellulose fibers ...