title: Wood-Based Nanocomposite Derived by in Situ Formation of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Polymer within Wood via a Sol-Gel Method.
abstract: Solid wood materials and wood-plastic composites as two kinds of lightweight materials are attracting great interest from academia and industry due to their green and recycling nature. However, the relatively lower specific strength limits their wider applications. In particular, solid wood is vulnerable to moisture and decay fungi in nature, resulting in its poor durability for effectively long-term utilization. Inspired from the porous structure of wood, we propose a new design to build a wood-based nanocomposite with higher specific strength and satisfactory durability by in situ generation of organic-inorganic hybrid polymer within wood via a sol-gel method. The derived composite has 50-1200% improvement of impact toughness, 56-192% improvement of tensile strength, and 110-291% improvement of flexural strength over those of typical wood-plastic composites, respectively; and even 34% improvement of specific tensile strength than that of 36A steel; 208% enhancement of hardness; and 156% enhancement of compression strength than those of compared solid wood, respectively; as well as significantly improved dimensional stability and decay resistance over those of untreated natural wood. Such materials could be potentially utilized as lightweight and high-strength materials for applications in construction and automotive industries. This method could be extended to constitute other inorganic nanomaterials for novel organic-inorganic hybrid polymer within wood.
authors.affiliation: Shandong Provincial University Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.|Forestry College, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.|Shandong Institute of Wood Science, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Forestry College, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.affiliation: Forestry College, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Forestry College, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Shandong Provincial University Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.|Forestry College, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.|Shandong Institute of Wood Science, Shandong Agricultural University , No. 61 Daizong Road, Taian 271018, China.
authors.forename: Yongfeng
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6394-0222
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: nanocellulose; nanocomposite; organic−inorganic hybrid polymer; porous structure; sol−gel; wood