Transmission electron microscopy was performed
with a Jeol 1230 transmission electron
microscope (Jeol Instruments, Tokyo, Japan)
with an acceleration voltage of 100 kV. A drop
of fiber suspension was used on a copper grid
bearing a carbon film. Scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) was performed with a Jeol JXA
840A system running at 5-10 keV. Before scanning,
samples were coated with gold using a sputter
coater system (Edwards Sputter Coater; BOC
Edwards, Sussex, UK). Figure 1 shows MFC isolated
from bagasse pulp pretreated with xylanase
enzymes. The diameter of the microfibrils ranged
9-25 nm, whereas the diameter of the microfibrillar
bands was as much as 90 nm (Hassan et al
2010b).