Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has been used to morphologically characterise lignocellulosic surfaces during the conversion of biomass into e.g. ethanol. Surface morphology of pretreated biomass as well as structural characteristics of microfibrils during enzymatic degradation with nano-scale resolution have been reported. More advanced AFM methods include Chemical Force Microscopy (CFM), where mercapto-alkyl-functional groups are covalently linked to gold coated AFM tips. This allows differences in adhesion between the tip and sample to be mapped by measuring the pull-off force required for the tip to operate in liquid-tapping mode. This method provides a new tool to chemically characterise lignocellulosic surfaces and pinpoint specific chemical features with the nanometer resolution of AFM. This poster describes our development with CFM for characterisation of lignocellulosic surfaces; potentially it will be a valuable tool for exploring the mechanisms during pretreatments and enzymatic degradation of lignocellulosic materials as well as revealing the enhancing effects of surfactants on enzymatic degradation.