Scalable aesthetic transparent wood for energy efficient buildings

Ruiyu Mi, Chaoji Chen, Tobias Keplinger, Yong Pei, Shuaiming He, Dapeng Liu, Jianguo Li, Jiaqi Dai, Emily Hitz, Bao Yang, Ingo Burgert and Liangbing Hu ()
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Ruiyu Mi: University of Maryland
Chaoji Chen: University of Maryland
Tobias Keplinger: Wood Materials Science, ETH Zürich
Yong Pei: University of Maryland
Shuaiming He: University of Maryland
Dapeng Liu: University of Maryland
Jianguo Li: University of Maryland
Jiaqi Dai: University of Maryland
Emily Hitz: University of Maryland
Bao Yang: University of Maryland
Ingo Burgert: Wood Materials Science, ETH Zürich
Liangbing Hu: University of Maryland

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Nowadays, energy-saving building materials are important for reducing indoor energy consumption by enabling better thermal insulation, promoting effective sunlight harvesting and offering comfortable indoor lighting. Here, we demonstrate a novel scalable aesthetic transparent wood (called aesthetic wood hereafter) with combined aesthetic features (e.g. intact wood patterns), excellent optical properties (an average transmittance of ~ 80% and a haze of ~ 93%), good UV-blocking ability, and low thermal conductivity (0.24 W m−1K−1) based on a process of spatially selective delignification and epoxy infiltration. Moreover, the rapid fabrication process and mechanical robustness (a high longitudinal tensile strength of 91.95 MPa and toughness of 2.73 MJ m−3) of the aesthetic wood facilitate good scale-up capability (320 mm × 170 mm × 0.6 mm) while saving large amounts of time and energy. The aesthetic wood holds great potential in energy-efficient building applications, such as glass ceilings, rooftops, transparent decorations, and indoor panels.

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17513-w

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17513-w

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