Superwetting‐Enabled In Situ Silicification for Artificial Silicified Wood

Abstract

Abstract Wooden artifacts have attracted comprehensive concern as the witnesses of human civilization; however, their conservation suffers from many difficulties, such as natural degradation and biological invasion. Silicified wood, as a fossil material that has existed for millions of years, provides a valuable clue for the long‐term conservation of wooden materials. In this work, a superwetting‐enabled in situ silicification strategy is reported to silicify wood in a confined way, fabricating artificial silicified wood within 100 h. The superwetting process of the silica sol enables multi‐scale high silica filling throughout the entire wood from the nanoscale to the macroscale. The artificial silicified wood shows a high flexural strength of ≈216.49 MPa and super resistance against termites and fungi. The artificial silicified wood retains 98.70% of its mass against termites, and over 90.64% of its mass against fungi, meeting the safest level in the global standards. The finding provides a general silicification approach for wood‐like materials with complex hierarchical structures and a promisingly alternative solution for the conservation of wooden artifacts.