Deposition of cellulose nanocrystals onto biomimetic lipid membranes

The deposition of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) on a supported lipid bilayer (SLB) was investigated at different length scales. A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) was used to probe the bilayer formation and to show for the first time the CNCs deposition onto the SLB. Specifically, classical QCM-D measurements gave estimation of the adsorbed hydrated mass and the corresponding film thickness, whereas complementary experiments using D2O as the solvent allowed the quantitative determination of the hydration of the CNCs layer, showing a high hydration value. Scanning force microscopy (SFM) and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF) were used to probe the homogeneity of the deposited layers and reveal the structural details at the particle and film length scales, respectively, and to give information on the effect of CNCs concentration on the surface coverage. The results showed that the adsorption of CNCs on the supported lipid membrane depends on lipid composi...