Highly transparent (up to 92% light transmittance) wood composites have been developed. The process of fabricating the transparent wood composites includes lignin removal followed by index-matching polymer infiltration resulted in fabrication of the transparent wood composites with preserved naturally aligned nanoscale fibers. The thickness of the transparent wood composite can be tailored by controlling the thickness of the initial wood substrate. The optical transmittance can be tailored by selecting infiltrating polymers with different refractive indices. The transparent wood composites have a range of applications in biodegradable electronics, optoelectronics, as well as structural and energy efficient building materials. By coating the transparent wood composite layer on the surface of GaAs thin film solar cell, an 18% enhancement in the overall energy conversion efficiency has been attained.

Wood template-supported phase change material (PCM) composite having thermal energy storage applications. A wood template-supported PCM may include a wood template that has had at least a portion of its xylan and/or lignin removed and saturated with a PCM. The PCM may be stabilized with a cross linkable network for improved infiltration into the wood template. The wood template-supported PCM composite may be formed by extracting xylan and/or lignin from the wood to create a wood template, densifying at least a portion of the wood template, and inserting a PCM into the wood template.

A synergistic aqueous wood preservative composition comprising a copper compound and penflufen. The copper compounds of the compositions of the invention may be soluble, partially solubilized or micronized particles. The penflufen of the compositions of the invention may be solubilized, emulsified or particulate. The wood preservative compositions of the present invention are surprisingly provided as stable dispersions and confer surprising and unexpected resistance to treated wood and wood products.