Preparation and characterization of SiO₂/wood hybrid materials

SiO₂/wood hybrid materials were prepared by the method of sol-gel using TEOS as inorganic medium and China fir as raw materials, according to the principle of solvothermal method. The structure and property of the hybrid materials were analyzed by FTfR, XRD, TGA and SEM. The results show that the WPG (weight percent gain) of the wood gets a marked improvement and the hydroxyl groups from the hydrolysis of TEOS reacted with the hydroxyl groups of the wood. In SEM analysis, the network whose size is in nanoscale is found, which resulted from the coagulation of Si-O-C network. And in XRD analysis, the crystalline phase of lignocellulose has been destroyed. Meanwhile, the crystallinity decreases from 75.37% for pure wood powder to 32.42% for 78% WPG hybrid material. TGA shows that the hybrid materials has a better thermostability. The characteristic degradation temperature at 10% mass loss is evidently increased from 270°C for pure wood powder to 409°C for 78% WPG hybrid materials.