Nano- and microstructures in stretched and non-stretched blend gels of cellulose and hemicelluloses

Molecular interactions between cellulose and hemicelluloses, such as xyloglucan and xylan, play an important role in the formation of ordered layers in the cell wall of higher plants. This study attempts to characterize an ordered state of a matrix consisting of cellulose and hemicellulose induced by stretching never-dried binary blended films. In non-stretched films, the xylan component easily adapted into the semicrystalline state, while the xyloglucan component remained amorphous. Once both blended films were stretched, each component tended to be close enough to the adherent macromolecule, and the interaction resulted in typical morphological orders at the nano-and microscale levels. These studies could be useful in constructing new bio-derived materials, as well as understanding the molecular interactions between the polymers.