4.3. TEM characterization
TEM images produced further details on nanomaterial morphologies. As indicated in Fig. 3(a) chitin NFs were seen as large bundles made up of individual nanofibers. These agglomerations were expected during the drying stage on hydrophobic TEM grids due to the fibers with much smaller diameters were observed around the large bundles. Occasional debris was also observed, possibly formed during the chitin NFs preparation process. Fig. 3(b) shows a magnified image of isolated chitin NFs. Close inspection of the TEM images shows that the fiber diameter is less than 10 nm. Observed nanofiber lengths ranged from 0.5 to 4 μm which in agreement with AFM analysis.