About This Project

Transparent wood (TW) is a lightweight, energy-efficient material engendering optical functionalities in natural hardwoods. A scalable method of TW involves the photocatalytic depolymerization of lignin on chromophore residues. However, we recognize that the use of hazardous reagents renders the method impracticable without posing a risk to workers. Hence, the present study explores differing, nonhazardous reagents that can undergo the photocatalytic oxidation mechanism to achieve TW materials.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Existing transparent wood (TW) methods use solution-based immersion to delignify natural hardwoods, generating a liquid waste harmful to the environment and difficult to properly dispose of.

A more recent approach uses a lignin-modifying method rather than previous lignin-extracting modalities. However, while the photocatalytic depolymerization of lignin is significantly waste-reducing, the method requires the use of hazardous chemical reagents, therefore posing a risk to industry workers outside of the laboratory setting.

Hence, the aim of the present study is to propose safer chemical reagents and devise an implementable strategy to effectually attain TW materials.

What is the significance of this project?

Energy efficiency and environmental conservation in industry necessitate the investigation of sustainable alternatives to petrochemical-based polymers and high-cost material manufacturing.

Hence, wood as a naturally abundant, biodegradable material has been explored for its potential to be modified into eco-friendly, multifunctional biocomposites for advanced engineering and sustainable design. One such composite, transparent wood (TW), exhibits promise as the window of the future and for applications in smart buildings.

Unfortunately, several existing TW methods mitigate the green objectives by producing significant liquid waste and posing a health hazard to users. Therefore, this study aims to devise a sustainable, user-friendly TW method implementable in engineering and industry.

What are the goals of the project?

Through the present study, we hope to devise an implementable, green chemical modification method that minimizes the risk of health and environmental toxicities whilst achieving the desired result of robust, high-performance transparent wood (TW) materials.

We design this study by performing the photocatalytic depolymerization of lignin macromolecules with different, nonhazardous reagents on various hardwood species. Then, we will measure the optical functionalities (transmittance) with a transparency meter, analyze the chemical composition of lignin by FTIR, and observe the preserved cell wall structure by scanning electron microscopy.

We hope to publish our findings in an undergraduate journal and to potentially develop a TW product that is commercially available.