Optonanomechanical Spectroscopic Imaging

Abstract

An outstanding problem in biomass based biofuel production is the efficient extraction of cellulosic material trapped in the lignin network in plant cell walls. Lignin can be removed by chemical processing. However, the resulting chemical and morphological traits need to be studied at the nanoscale. To achieve this, we introduce the hybrid photonic nanomechanical force microscopy as a new nanometrological technique with promising capabilities to aid in the chemical imaging of biomass and beyond.