The emerging development of transparent wood: materials, characteristics, and applications

Purpose of review Transparent wood (TW) has attracted much interest from researchers as an emerging optical load-bearing material because of its advanced characteristics. These advantages mainly include being renewable, existing abundant reserves, low cost, interesting optical properties, outstandin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current forestry reports 2022-12, Vol.8 (4), p.333-345
Main Authors: Zhang, Jingfa, Koubaa, Ahmed, Tao, Yubo, Li, Peng, Xing, Dan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical composition
Composition effects
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Electrical conductivity
Electrical resistivity
Electromagnetic shielding
Environment
Environmental Management
Forestry
Forestry Management
Lignin
Mechanical properties
Nature Conservation
Optical properties
Photoelectricity
Reviews
Section Editor
Sustainable Development
Thermal conductivity
Thermal properties
Thermodynamic properties
Topical Collection on Wood Structure and Function
Wood
Wood Structure and Function (M Watt
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose of review Transparent wood (TW) has attracted much interest from researchers as an emerging optical load-bearing material because of its advanced characteristics. These advantages mainly include being renewable, existing abundant reserves, low cost, interesting optical properties, outstanding mechanical performance, and low thermal conductivity. This review summarizes the current research activities that center on the development of transparent wood. Recent findings This review first addresses wood structural features and chemical composition. The effects of lignin removal, wood species, and resin types on the properties of transparent wood have been explored by researchers. Moreover, many studies highlight the properties of transparent wood, including optical and thermal properties and mechanical performance. An increasing number of studies have focused on the preparation of functional transparent wood and its commercial application. Summary We summarize transparent wood research processes and perspectives on several issues that need further exploration. Lignin removal is one of the most important factors in the processing of transparent wood. Thus, more efficient and greener methods need to be developed to achieve lignin removal or modification to suit the requirements of high-performance transparent wood. The main research objectives would be new functional properties such as electromagnetic shielding, intelligent photoelectric response, high hardness, and electrical conductivity of transparent wood. Graphical abstract
ISSN:2198-6436
2198-6436
DOI:10.1007/s40725-022-00172-z