Some challenges in the naming and measuring of nanocellulose

Due to its renewable nature, its inherent strength, and many other favorable attributes, nanocellulose (NC) has drawn increasing attention for many potential applications. A diverse and complex assortment of NC products have been reported, and these are most commonly classified based on some contrasting procedures of preparation. The research community is facing a continuing challenge to adequately measure and quantify morphological features of various NC products. In principle, it ought to be possible to quantify and name NC based on such attributes as “degree of branching,” “breadth of particle size,” and “aspect ratio distribution,” etc. However, the ability to measure and compute such quantities still lies beyond what can be achieved in practical amounts of time in typical laboratories. Meanwhile, there has been tension between researchers proposing additional descriptive names, while at the same time there have been efforts at achieving uniformity and simplicity in nomenclature. It is proposed in this essay that this state of affairs is largely a reflection of complexity itself, such that NC products that have the same nominal description can be very different from each other when examined closely. The diversity itself may turn out to be a good thing, as researchers work to come up with varieties of NC that can survive an expected relentless competition from existing plastic-based or cellulose-based materials.