INFLUENCE OF VACUUM IMPREGNATION PRESSURES ON THE NANOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND PHOTOCATALYTIC PERFORMANCE OF NANO TIO2-FURFURYL ALCOHOL/BALSA WOOD-BASED COMPOSITES

In this work, a nano TiO2-FA/balsa wood-based composites were successfully fabricated by mechanical stirring assisted vacuum impregnation method, and the influence of different impregnation pressures on the microstructure, nanomechanical characteristics and photocatalytic performance of obtained composites were investigated. Results show that the nano TiO2-FA compound modifier was impregnated in the tracheid and attached to the wood cell walls. SEM revealed that the size of TiO2 nanoparticles grow larger as the impregnation pressure increases, and the presence of TiO2 globules with some areas agglomerated on the wood cell wall surface. Compared with the unmodified wood, the elastic modulus of cell walls for nano TiO2-FA/balsa wood composites prepared under 0.45 MPa significantly increased by 160.5%, and the hardness improved from 0.36 +/- 0.04 GPa to 0.84 +/- 0.08 GPa. Furthermore, the UV-Vis showed that the composite exhibited a high removal rate of methylene blue (10 mg.L-1), up to 88.74% within 240 min.