The researchers studied cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), tiny rod-shaped particles made of cellulose. Using the ForMAX beamline at MAX IV, they were able to follow how the particles behaved as the liquid formed increasingly complex swirling patterns.
At first, the cellulose nanocrystals followed the larger flow patterns. But as the flow became more complex, their behaviour began to differ. In comparison, the platelet-like graphene oxide particles continued to follow the larger-scale flow even as more complex patterns developed.
“This multiscale perspective, where we can probe multiple length scales simultaneously, could help advance our understanding of numerous mass-transport problems,” says Roland Kádár, Professor at Chalmers University of Technology.
“I’m really glad to have been part of this project. Seeing these beautiful flow patterns while also capturing what was happening inside them made this one of the most intriguing experiments for me. Combining three techniques simultaneously at ForMAX really showed us the potential to probe the system across vastly different length scales,” says Kesavan Sekar, PhD student at WWSC and Chalmers.
The results highlight the importance of multiscale measurements for understanding cellulose-based materials. The study also demonstrates how advanced research infrastructure such as ForMAX can provide new tools for exploring the relationship between flow, processing and nanostructure.
“The result is a good example of what we envisioned when developing the multiscale, multimodal and time-resolved capabilities of ForMAX: not simply observing structure at different length scales, but following how the dynamics at those scales are connected. And in this case, they are not always connected in the way one might expect,” says Kim Nygård, Beamline manager at ForMAX, MAX IV.
The research was carried out by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and MAX IV, with support from Wallenberg Wood Science Center and other partners.
The beamline ForMAX is funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and Swedish industry via Treesearch.
Read the publication:
Kesavan Sekar, Viney Ghai, Reza Ghanbari, Marko Bek, Marianne Liebi, Aleksandar Matic, Ann E. Terry, Kim Nygård & Roland Kádár Multiscale transitional flow in anisotropic nanoparticle suspensions revealed by time-resolved X-ray scatter microscopy Nature Physics, 29 September 2026