Dear Colleagues,

Wood, a versatile material, has been used for centuries for many reasons, due to its fibrous nature. It varies in color and density and is considered a primary raw material in buildings due to its high strength in combination with its low weight and durability. It is, therefore, a raw material that can be used in indoor applications and, if treated efficiently, in outdoor application as well. However, wood has two main disadvantages that restrict its wider use, namely a susceptibility to biodegradability by microorganisms and a dimensional instability when subjected to a varied moisture content. Most wood species deteriorate rapidly with biological factors; the most important biological decay is caused by fungi. On the other hand, when wood is subjected to a fluctuating moisture, dimensional and conformational instability occur. These drawbacks are mainly due to the cell wall main polymers and, in particular, due to their high abundance of hydroxyl groups. Conventional wood impregnation methods (water or oil type preservatives) are based primarily on the use of toxic chemicals. Environmental concerns, particularly with regard to the disposal of treated wood at the end of product life, are now causing restrictions to be imposed upon the utilization of conventional chemical treatments. An alternative method of enhancing the durability of wood and other lignocellulosic materials without the use of conventional biocides and improving its dimensional stability is chemical or thermal modification. Another option to improve these properties is to exploit the solutions that nanotechnology can offer. Employing nanotechnology on wood can result in a next generation of products with hyper-performance and superior service ability when used in severe environments, since it is well known that the cell wall of wood exhibits the porosity of molecular scale dimensions, due to the partial filling of space between the cellulose microfibrils by lignin, hemicelluloses and extractives. The small size nanoparticles of such nanotechnology compounds can deeply penetrate into the wood, effectively alter its surface chemistry, and result in a high protection against moisture and decay.

This Special Issue, “Innovative Approaches for Wood Preservation”, seeks high-quality works and topics, not only those focusing on the latest approaches to the protection of wood and wood composites with chemical or thermal modification technologies, but also the application of nanomaterials to wood science and the development of new techniques and technologies for the production of lignocellulosic materials with enhanced properties and performance.

Prof. Dr. Antonios Papadopoulos
Guest Editor

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• wood
• composites
• wood-based panels
• durability
• decay
• moisture
• chemical modification
• thermal modification
• nanotechnology
• preservation