Scientific activities
The macroscopic behavior of matrial stems out from molecular interactions and structure at different length scales. X-ray/neutron diffraction technique allows us to probe the structure at atomic level guiding us in the understanding of molecular interactions and structures of materials, especially when crystalline order exists in the structure.
Unlike small molecules, cellulose and polysaccharides do not form macroscopic single crystal. Instead, they form nanometric crystals that are more or less aligned. Rich and robust (reproducible) experimental data can be obtained from such samples that are directly related to the structure, but the information are very often not fully exploited. My approach is to contruct explicit models and predict experimental signals that can be directly compared to available data.
Research subjects
- Crystal structure refinement of polysaccharides using X-ray/neutron fiber diffraction.
- Wood higher order structure and its modification.
- Bridging molecular modeling and experimental data.
