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https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/why-scientists-are-making-transparent-wood/>
"Thirty years ago, a botanist in Germany had a simple wish: to see the inner
workings of woody plants without dissecting them. By bleaching away the
pigments in plant cells, Siegfried Fink managed to create transparent wood, and
he published his technique in a niche wood technology journal. The 1992 paper
remained the last word on see-through wood for more than a decade, until a
researcher named Lars Berglund stumbled across it.
Berglund was inspired by Fink’s discovery, but not for botanical reasons. The
materials scientist, who works at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden,
specializes in polymer composites and was interested in creating a more robust
alternative to transparent plastic. And he wasn’t the only one interested in
wood’s virtues. Across the ocean, researchers at the University of Maryland
were busy on a related goal: harnessing the strength of wood for nontraditional
purposes.
Now, after years of experiments, the research of these groups is starting to
bear fruit. Transparent wood could soon find uses in super-strong screens for
smartphones; in soft, glowing light fixtures; and even as structural features,
such as color-changing windows.
“I truly believe this material has a promising future,” says Qiliang Fu, a wood
nanotechnologist at Nanjing Forestry University in China who worked in
Berglund’s lab as a graduate student."
Via Esther Schindler.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
