While the water sorption volume generally increased with decreasing pore sizes within the probed range of mesoporosity, a sorption peak occurred at mesopore radius of 5 -6 nm for scaffolds made with only CNC, which the CNC-MNP scaffolds do not share. The MNPs synthesized in situ were polydispersed nanoparticles approximately 4 -12 nm in diameter (Figure ). The lack of sorption peak in CNC-MNP scaffolds may indicate space occupied by MNPs.