
A piece of wood you can see through? Credit Bing Hu and members of his lab, who look for futuristic uses for one of humanity’s most familiar building materials.
(Photo by John T. Consoli; illustrations by Valerie Morgan)
Researcher Keeps Finding Innovative Ways to Employ the Ultimate Sustainable Material
What’s bouncy, bulletproof, cools you in the summer, keeps you toasty warm in winter and might help save our planet?
The answer literally grows on (and in) trees: wood—at least in the many unfamiliar guises it takes on in the lab of materials science and engineering Professor Liangbing “Bing” Hu, director of the Center for Materials Innovation at UMD. Hu is an expert in nanomaterials, which generally are manufactured to have special characteristics—like ultrastrength or superconductivity—based on their microscopic structure.
Hu got excited several years ago when he realized there was an almost infinite supply of natural nanomaterial that’s both versatile and strong, and buried in the grain structure of wood. Since then, he’s been developing different methods to access and exploit that hidden resource while developing surprising new applications that a UMD spinoff company, InventWood, is readying for market.
“Sustainability and environmental protection convinced me more and more to pursue this,” he says. “Wood is an abundant and renewable material, and an old material people have gained a lot of knowledge about through history. But in terms of innovation, this is not a crowded field.”
Read on for a few of the new ways Hu is building on a trusty standby.
Clear Cuts
Wood like you’ve never seen it—or in this case, seen through it. Hu and his lab members created nearly transparent wood by replacing its lignin with clear epoxy. The result is a beautiful building material that retains its wood grain and admits light like frosted glass, but insulates better. And in his lab’s latest discovery, published last month in Science Advances, the power of the sun helps modify the lignin, reducing the chemicals needed to create wood windows.
“Super Wood”
Stronger than steel at one-sixth the weight, wood turns literally bulletproof when Hu and collaborators remove lignin, a natural “glue” that holds the cells together. They compress what remains under extreme pressure to create a rust-free structural material that could be deployed, with support from a $4 million grant from the Department of Energy, in everything from bridges to boats.
Let’s Bounce
A process of heating, freezing and chemical modification turns wood’s normally rigid structure to jelly so it rebounds like a superball. Hu had no specific goal for this recently announced discovery—other than squishiness—but now some companies are interested in exploring its use as a shock absorber.
Steamed Up
Wood from Hu’s lab turns seawater to drinking water. Specially processed basswood, blackened by burning, floats inside a solar evaporator, sucking up saltwater through a vascular structure naturally designed to avoid clogging from impurities like salt. Under concentrated solar heat, the wood emits steam that condenses into freshwater.
Building Chiller
Hu’s radiative cooling wood is pure white in the visual light spectrum, meaning that on building roofs, it doesn’t soak up the sun. Paradoxically, it’s pure black—but only in the invisible infrared spectrum—helping heat radiate back into outer space. The result is a several-degree difference between inside and out, even before switching on the AC.
Original Article: Where Wood Gets Weird
More from: University of Maryland
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Transparent wood
- Designing a GLITTERY tissue box with olive wood and epoxy resin
This spectacular montage shows Krzysztof Gostkowski cutting and polishing olive wood, adding epoxy resin to the mix ... "The first layer of resin is with black dye and the second layer is transparent ...
- Video Details Construction Of Transparent Wood
We’ve talked about transparent wood before. However, the process can be difficult to get just right. [NileRed] recently posted a video with very detailed instructions on how he’s doing it.
- Transparent Wood Market to Garner $208.1 Million, Globally, By 2031 at 9.0% CAGR, Says Allied Market Research
Covid-19 Scenario The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the global transparent wood market. The implementation of emergency protocols and cancellation or postponement of all non-essential ...
- Transparent Wood Market to Garner $208.1 Million, Globally, By 2031 at 9.0% CAGR, Says Allied Market Research
Wide applications of transparent wood in end-use industries such as construction, furniture, solar cell, and others and growth in construction activities globally drive the global transparent wood ...
- Scientists Say New "Transparent Wood" Could Replace Plastic
A team of researchers claim to have created a biodegradable and renewable alternative to both glass and plastic in the form of "transparent wood," a futuristic new material that could greatly ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Transparent wood
[google_news title=”” keyword=”transparent wood” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Super wood
- Amid closing rumors, Superwood plant in Duluth to go idle for a week
The plant makes a thin hardboard product called Superwood that's widely used in the auto industry. The Duluth plant temporarily shut down operations in July 2011, when its water use permit was ...
- Drake Named as Closing Performer of h.wood Homecoming Pop-Up at Super Bowl Weekend
The h.wood Group, an LA-based hotel and lifestyle marketing firm, and Uncommon Entertainment officially announce the second annual Cash App & Visa Present h.wood Homecoming pop-up experience ...
- Every Super Bowl 2023 Commercial and Ad, So Far
Kelsie Gibson is the SEO Editor of PEOPLE Digital. Since joining the brand in 2021, she has contributed to a number of different verticals, writing and editing SEO content ranging from ...
- Drake to Perform at h.wood Homecoming Party Ahead of 2023 Super Bowl: Exclusive
The event takes place Feb. 10 in a private jet complex in Scottsdale, Ariz. By Katie Atkinson Executive Digital Director, West Coast Drake is joining the roster of star-studded parties for 2023 ...
- Super Bowl 2023: Everything to know about the big game
Now that the NFL regular season is over, we know which teams have a legitimate chance at reaching the Super Bowl and which ones are already focusing on next spring’s draft board. For the third ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Super wood
[google_news title=”” keyword=”super wood” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]