Lateral structural variations in thin cellulose layers investigated by microbeam grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering

The Langmuir-Blodgett technique is a powerful tool to obtain large-scale thin films. We investigate a thin layer of modified cellulose by atomic force microscopy and microbeam grazing-incidence small angle X-ray scattering. We probe the lateral nanostructure of the as-prepared cellulose layer. The results indicate a lateral structural variation in the arrangement of the cellulose molecules parallel to the dipping direction. These variations occur on a length scale on the order of 100μm.