Potential of Nanotechnology in Wood-Based Materials

With a tremendous progress observed over the last decade, nanoscience already has become a frontier of technology by enabling almost endless possibilities in many fields. It creates the opportunity to work on a matter representing near-atomic scale in order to invent the novel, so far unknown solutions. Due to the fact that some of these discoveries are implemented into a development of innovative, high-performance materials, this field can be considered as an indicator of the progress in modern times. Nanotechnology offers the strong potential also for a wood industry sector which might lead to numerous advances in, for example, wood-based materials manufacturing. As indicated by the indexes of consumption of wood-containing composites around the world, it is a dynamically developing branch of industry. Therefore, it attracts a lot of attention of scientists who are still looking for innovative ways to improve these materials. Nanoparticles owe their reinforcing nature to a number of excellent properties such as, for example, tremendous surface area and high thermal conductivity which are rather rare in the case of their bulk counterparts. This is why they were found to effectively improve characteristics of wood-based composites bonded with synthetic or natural adhesives. It is particularly important because the implementation of such modifications may contribute to the extension of their use. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to sum up the current knowledge on the potential of nanomaterials such as mineral nanoparticles, nano-oxides, nano-silver, carbon-based nanoparticles, nanocellulose, and nanolignin in the enhancement of both strength and water-related properties of wood-based materials bonded with synthetic and bio-based adhesives (based on starch, tannins, and lignin).