Particle size distributions for cellulose nanocrystals measured by transmission electron microscopy: an interlaboratory comparison

From National Research Council Canada

Download	View supplementary information: Particle size distributions for cellulose nanocrystals measured by transmission electron microscopy: an interlaboratory comparison (PDF, 2 MB)
DOI	Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c02805
Author	Search for: Meija, Juris¹; Search for: Bushell, Michael¹; Search for: Couillard, Martin²; Search for: Beck, Stephanie; Search for: Bonevich, John; Search for: Cui, Kai³; Search for: Foster, Johan; Search for: Will, John; Search for: Fox, Douglas; Search for: Cho, Whirang; Search for: Heidelmann, Markus; Search for: Park, Byong Chon; Search for: Park, Yun Chang; Search for: Ren, Lingling; Search for: Xu, Li; Search for: Stefaniak, Aleksandr B.; Search for: Knepp, Alycia K.; Search for: Theissmann, Ralf; Search for: Purwin, Horst; Search for: Wang, Ziqiu; Search for: de Val, Natalia; Search for: Johnston, Linda J.¹ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9136-4920
Name affiliation	National Research Council of Canada. Metrology Research Centre National Research Council of Canada. Energy, Mining and Environment National Research Council of Canada. Nanotechnology
Format	Text, Article
Journal title	Analytical Chemistry
ISSN	0003-2700 1520-6882
Article number	acs.analchem.0c02805
Physical description	9 p.
Subject	imaging; nanoparticles; particle size; colloids; transmission electron microscopy
Abstract	Particle size is a key parameter that must be measured to ensure reproducible production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and to achieve reliable performance metrics for specific CNC applications. Nevertheless, size measurements for CNCs are challenging due to their broad size distribution, irregular rod-shaped particles, and propensity to aggregate and agglomerate. We report an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) that tests transmission electron microscopy (TEM) protocols for image acquisition and analysis. Samples of CNCs were prepared on TEM grids in a single laboratory, and detailed data acquisition and analysis protocols were provided to participants. CNCs were imaged and the size of individual particles was analyzed in 10 participating laboratories that represent a cross section of academic, industrial, and government laboratories with varying levels of experience with imaging CNCs. The data for each laboratory were fit to a skew normal distribution that accommodates the variability in central location and distribution width and asymmetries for the various datasets. Consensus values were obtained by modeling the variation between laboratories using a skew normal distribution. This approach gave consensus distributions with values for mean, standard deviation, and shape factor of 95.8, 38.2, and 6.3 nm for length and 7.7, 2.2, and 2.9 nm for width, respectively. Comparison of the degree of overlap between distributions for individual laboratories indicates that differences in imaging resolution contribute to the variation in measured widths. We conclude that the selection of individual CNCs for analysis and the variability in CNC agglomeration and staining are the main factors that lead to variations in measured length and width between laboratories.
Publication date	2020-08-31
Publisher	American Chemical Society
Language	English
In press	Yes
Peer reviewed	Yes
Export citation	Export as RIS
Report a correction	Report a correction
Record identifier	68200b25-3ade-4572-ad20-44a4a450d002
Record created	2020-10-02
Record modified	2020-10-30

Report a problem on this page

Date modified:: 2021-02-28