Transparent wood that can absorb and release heat has been created by scientists. This wood could one day be used in the construction industry to make eco-friendly buildings, researchers presenting their findings at the American Chemical Society Spring 2019 National Meeting & Exposition said.
“However, it cannot be used as light-transmitting material as it is. In a perspective of reducing artificial lighting in buildings and developing new functional wood-based material, we chemically modified wood to make it transparent without losing the mechanical properties. This suggests that it can be used for light-transmitting structures, such as windows, with the advantage of being much more insulating than glass.
“In this work, we not only managed to make the wood transparent so it can transmit light, but we also added an extra functionality: heat storage,” Montanari said. “This means that this transparent wood is multifunctional and fulfilled to high-demanding functions in the building sector: Transparency to reduce artificial lighting, and heat storage to reduce energy losses.“Transparent wood is already a great insulating material when compared with glass.
I know “Newsweek” is not a pinnacle of journalistic integrity, but whoever is in charge of this Twitter account should learn proper sentence structure. Transparent wood created by scientists that stores and releases heat. FTFY
Is it technically 'wood', tho?