Preliminary observations of hydrothermal growth of nanomaterials on wood surfaces

A hydrothermal method of fabricating nanomaterials at wood surfaces is described in this paper. Nanomaterials with different morphologies including spherical anatase TiO2, amorphous SiO2, wurtzite ZnO nanorod arrays, intertwining MnO2 nanowires, shuttle-shaped CaCO3 nanorods, and rhombic and cubic NaCl were deposited at wood surfaces. TiO2-ZnO compound nanoparticles and CuO nanoparticles were also created. The surface morphologies and crystalline structures of the prepared samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. No obvious changes in the color of wood were caused by the hydrothermal process except those nanomaterials of Mn or Cu deposited at surfaces.