Review of Wood Modification and Wood Functionalization Technologies
Samuel L. Zelinka, Michael Altgen, Lukas Emmerich, Nathanaël Guigo, Tobias Keplinger, Maija Kymäläinen, Emil Engelund Thybring, Lisbeth Garbrecht Thygesen
Abstract
Wood modifications are becoming popular as a way to enhance the performance of wood, either to make it more durable, improve the performance of wood, or give it new functionality as a multifunctional or smart material. While wood modifications have been examined since the early 1900s, the topic has become a dominant area of study in wood science over the past decade. This review summarizes recent advances and provides future perspective on a selection of wood modifications, i.e., the methods that are currently commercialized (acetylation, furfurylation, and thermal modification), a rediscovered ancient practice (charring), a family of polymerization modifications that have so far made it to the pilot scale, and examples of novel wood-based functional materials explored at laboratory scale.