Sacrificial strategy to fabricate durable superhydrophobic wood via hierarchical roughness and elastic crosslinking

Qian Liu; Linan Shao; Baiyu Wang; Yang Yang; Lingling Wang; Wei Gao

doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.004

Volume 11 Issue 1

Feb. 2026

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Qian Liu, Linan Shao, Baiyu Wang, Yang Yang, Lingling Wang, Wei Gao. Sacrificial strategy to fabricate durable superhydrophobic wood via hierarchical roughness and elastic crosslinking[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(1): 100228. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.004

Citation:

Qian Liu, Linan Shao, Baiyu Wang, Yang Yang, Lingling Wang, Wei Gao. Sacrificial strategy to fabricate durable superhydrophobic wood via hierarchical roughness and elastic crosslinking[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(1): 100228. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.004

Citation:

Qian Liu, Linan Shao, Baiyu Wang, Yang Yang, Lingling Wang, Wei Gao. Sacrificial strategy to fabricate durable superhydrophobic wood via hierarchical roughness and elastic crosslinking[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(1): 100228. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.004

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Sacrificial strategy to fabricate durable superhydrophobic wood via hierarchical roughness and elastic crosslinking

doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.004

Qian Liu^{a, b, 1},
Linan Shao^{a, b, 1},
Baiyu Wang^c,
Yang Yang^d,
Lingling Wang^e,
Wei Gao^{a, b
,
,}

a.
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glue Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China
b.
College of Material and Chemistry Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China
c.
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
d.
College of Materials and Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
e.
College of Engineering, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail address: weigao@swfu.edu.cn (W. Gao)
Received Date: 2025-09-04
Accepted Date: 2025-11-06
Rev Recd Date: 2025-11-03

Available Online: 2025-12-01

Publish Date: 2026-02-01

Abstract

Abstract

With growing demand for renewable resources, superhydrophobic wood is widely regarded as leading candidate for outdoor construction applications. However, superhydrophobic wood still suffers from insufficient mechanical strength and durability under long-term abrasion and ultraviolet (UV) exposure. Herein, a sacrificial synergy strategy combining elastic cross-linked network and hierarchical roughness was proposed to enhance both toughness and durability, and its toughening mechanism is clarified. Specifically, a flexible room temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber matrix was cross-linked with vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) to construct an elastomeric interphase, while ZnO nanorods arrays were in situ grown to generate micro/nano-scale roughness and simultaneously act as a sacrificial barrier against external abrasion. The modified wood exhibited water contact angle over 154°. Furthermore, the expected excellent robustness toward water impact (continuous 66 h), sand impingement (100 g, 35 cm, 25 cycles), mechanical abrasion (1000 peeling cycles; sandpaper abrasion 400 cm), along with desirable chemical and environmental durability (48 h immersion in acidic and alkaline solution) of the modified wood was achieved as well. Moreover, the modified wood demonstrated multifunctional performance including self-cleaning, anti-fouling, humidity resistance (28 ℃, 85% relative humidity (RH), 15 days and 35 ℃, 90% RH, 6 days), and UV resistance (340 nm, 40 W, 33 days). This integrated approach not only proposed to construct mechanically resilient and environmentally durable superhydrophobic surfaces but also offered an effective design strategy for wood outdoor applications as construction material in long-term.
- Superhydrophobic wood,
- Structural toughening,
- Micro/nano structure,
- Durability

Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Supplementary materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.004.
^✩ Peer review under the responsibility of Editorial Office of Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts.

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References(46)

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