Cellulose (2023) 30:5447–5471 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05239-z
REVIEW PAPER
Engineered transparent wood composites: a review Thabisile Brightwell Jele · Jerome Andrew · Maya John · Bruce Sithole
Received: 11 January 2023 / Accepted: 1 May 2023 / Published online: 17 May 2023 © The Author(s) 2023
Abstract Wood is a versatile resource due to its inherent properties such as low density, good weight to strength ratio, unique hierarchical structure, micro- scale pores, and ease of processing, including its biodegradability and renewability. In the building and construction industry, engineered transparent wood (ETW) may serve as a sustainable replace- ment for glass which is environmentally unfriendly in its manufacture and application. Natural wood is non transparent due to its low optical transmittance, therefore, lignin and chromophores are modified or eliminated, and a polymer is infiltrated in order to achieve transparency. Engineered transparent wood T. B. Jele ( * ) · B. Sithole Discipline of Chemical Engineering, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard Campus), Durban, South Africa e-mail: thabisilejele94@gmail.com T. B. Jele · J. Andrew · B. Sithole Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Durban, South Africa M. John Centre for Nano-Structured Materials (CeNAM), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa M. John Department of Chemistry, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
(ETW) exhibits excellent optical properties (transmit- tance > 80%), high haze (haze > 70%), thermal insula- tion (thermal conductivity less than 0.23Wm −1 K −1 ), unique hierarchical structure, good loadbearing performance with tough failure behaviour (no shat- tering) and ductility. These properties extend wood applications to optical components such as solar cells, screens, windows, magnetic materials, and lumines- cent and decorative materials. This review details the production of ETW and how the wood density, wood thickness, wood type, wood direction, cellulose volume fraction, extent and type of delignification, polymer type, functionalisation of ETW affect the morphological, functional, optical, thermal, photo- degradation and mechanical properties of ETW. Keywords Engineered transparent wood · Delignification · Polymer Introduction Increasing population and industrialisation worldwide cause energy shortages, high cost of energy, and envi- ronmental concerns related to the use of fossil fuels for energy generation (Li et al. 2018c). In particular, the construction sector is a major energy consumer accounting for approximately 30% of global energy usage (United Nations Environment Programme 2017; Qiu et al. 2019; Li et al. 2019b; Montanari et al. 2019). In addition, greenhouse gas emissions
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