Chemistry Creates Transparency: Will Future Window Panes Be Wood‐based?

Wood has numerous ecological advantages over many other materials and is therefore increasingly used for many different applications, e.g. bicycle frames. Recently, researchers developed transparent wood which might replace window glass in the future. This would also have economic advantages, because transparent wood provides better thermal insulation than glass and, according to the German Association of Energy and Water Industries, heating requires more than a quarter of Germany's total energy consumption and the glass production consumes much energy. This article describes basic principles of transparent wood preparation. Furthermore, it presents experiments about this preparation in school and the optical as well as thermal properties of transparent wood. Finally, it showcases the value of the experiments for chemistry classes.