In the future, transparent wood with grains, could become the norm.

Researchers from the University of Maryland have managed to remove chemicals components from a block of wood thus making it totally transparent. The resulting material is not only more insulating than glass but also stronger and more bio-degradable.

“We were very surprised by how transparent it could go,” said Liangbing Hu, one of the researchers who participated in the project and wrote about it in Advanced Materials.

Hu’s team aren’t the only ones in the race to develop transparent wood. A team of Swedish researchers have also had success in clearing out the pesky wooden pulp and replacing it with a transparent polymer. Incidentally, the both techniques are pretty similar with both using a two-stage process.

So as to make this transparent wood, the researchers first boil the wood in water, in which sodium hydroxide and other chemicals have been added, for two hours. Doing so flushes out lignin, a molecule that gives wood its colour. After this process a layer of epoxy is painted over the wood. Although this makes the wood 4 or 5 times stronger, it also makes it less environmentally friendly.

Despite all of these treatments, the wood retains its grains and natural structure. These grains or micro channels can then deliver light similarly to how it moved nutrients around as part of a plant.

“In traditional material the light gets scattered. If you have this waveguide effect with wood, more light comes into your house,” said Hu.

Size limitations are however a factor that has yet to be resolved before see-through wooden houses become the norm. The maximum size of the wooden blocks can be five by five inches, with thickness ranging from paper thin to a centimetre thick.

Clearly, Dr. Hu and his team of researchers have their work cut out for them. If they can scale up the process, there will not be any shortage of application for it. Furniture and building materials that are normally made with plastic or glass could be made by this new material.