High overall performance transparent bamboo composite via a lignin-modification strategy

Development of transparent material derived from fast-growing natural bamboo is a promising and sustainable alternative for traditional glass materials. Here, we propose an effective strategy to prepare a transparent bamboo composite via lignin-modification and epoxy infiltration. This lignin-modification method can well maintain the integrity of natural bamboo, which provides a robust framework for the epoxy infiltration. The lignin-modified bamboo shows a high whiteness with significantly reduced light absorbance from 3 to 0.8 compared with natural bamboo. The above two aspects guarantee that the transparent bamboo composite obtained offers a high optical transparency of 87% over the visible wavelength range and a high tensile strength of 118 MPa simultaneously. Compared with conventional glasses, the as-prepared transparent bamboo composite has higher overall performance. Specifically, the transparent bamboo composite demonstrates the following advantages: (1) high optical haze (90%), which is beneficial to creating uniform indoor light distribution; (2) high toughness (4.5 MJ/m3), which is helpful to absorbing energy; (3) low density (1.2 g/cm3), which is good to lowering weight, and (4) low thermal conductivity (around 0.33 W/mK), which is only one third of conventional glasses and good for thermal insulation. The transparent bamboo composite with excellent overall performance has great potential in engineering applications, particularly for energy-efficient buildings. •A transparent bamboo composite was fabricated via lignin-modification and epoxy infiltration using natural bamboo as starting material.•Lignin-modification strategy could effectively bleach the natural bamboo and maintain its structural integrity simultaneously.•Compared with the conventional glasses, the transparent bamboo composite demonstrates higher haze and toughness, lower density and thermal conductivity.