Swedish researchers develop wood-based glass

Researchers at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed transparent wood that could in future be used in solar cells and biodegradable windows. The team, led by Prof. Lars Berglund, achieved this result by chemically removing lignin from wood fibres and then mixing this material with prepolymerized methyl methacrylate. Prof. Berglund commented: “It’s attractive that the material comes from renewable sources. It also offers excellent mechanical properties, including strength, toughness, low density and low thermal conductivity.”