Scanning Tunneling
Microscopy of the Ultrastructure of Cotton Fiber
ZHANG Yu-Zhong*, CHEN Xiu-Lan, LIU Jie, GAO
Pei-Ji
( State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250100,
China )
SHI Dong-Xia, PANG Shi-Jin
( Beijing Laboratory of Vacuum Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100080, China )
Abstract The
ultrastructure of the cotton fiber in Lumian No.11 was investigated with
scanning tunneling microscope (STM), and the results were compared with that by
scanning electron mincrocope(SEM). With SEM, fibrils could be seen, it was
difficult, however, to further observe the fine structures in fibrils.
Otherwise, with STM, fibrils could be seen clearly, and by making scan areas
smaller, it could be observed that the fibrils were composed of microfibrils,
and the microfibrils were composed of elementary fibrils, which were the
smallest structural units of the fibril, which were arranged in parallel.
Key words Cotton fiber；fibril；microfibril；elementary fibril；scanning tunneling microscope
(STM)
*Correspording auther：Tel,86-531-8564326；Fax,86-531-8565610；e-mail,[email protected]