Even though wood is a widely used material in different applications, it has a number of disadvantages, such as: low dimensional stability, susceptibility to biological attack and weathering (Hui et al 2015). Therefore, many efforts have been made to expand its potential applications or to increase the life time of wooden products by chemical modification or impregnation (i.e. Evans et al 2000, Mai & Militz 2004, Hill 2006, Hui et al 2015, Jia et al 2018, Li et al 2019). Recently, attempts have been made to create composite functional materials by mimicking biological structures and architectures (lotus and Salvinia leaf, rose petal, butterfly wings effect) that cause excellent functions and performance on which the water drops roll off the surface (Guo et al 2017, Jia et al 2018, Xing et al 2018, Li et al 2019, Lin et al 2018). Such superhydrophobic surfaces can minimize the wood-water interactions and thereby avoid damages associated with the water adsorption. Applying and understanding the underlying principles for the design of composite materials with special properties may guide materials science towards the use of renewable, sustainable, smart and more environmentally friendly materials. To date, significant effort has been developed to fabricate hydrophobic/superhydrophobic surfaces, but most of them exhibit poor durability and tend to lose their anti-wetting properties even upon small stresses, giving low wear resistance and reduced durability, or they use harmful solvents for their preparation. The aim of this research was to create a superhydrophobic wood surface by using modified silica nanoparticles in combination with a water soluble polymer.
Keywords: superhydrophobic, silica nanoparticles, wood surface
Authors
Carmen-Mihaela Popescu
Edinburgh Napier University / PPIMC, Iasi, Romania
Andreas Konstantinou
Alicja Stankiewicz
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