Scalable aesthetic transparent wood for energy efficient buildings.

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.

SUBMITTER: Mi R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7395769 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature