DESIGN
Glowing wood
Just mix two chemicals, then watch them glow.
A kid’s glow stick and this luminescent wood use the same chemicals to achieve their effect. | Image: M. Ritter et al. (2024)
When you bend a glow stick, two chemicals mix together to produce a coloured light. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now used this method to make wood glow. They soaked thin wood veneers in the first liquid, and, after drying, they were able to start the chemical reaction at any time by adding the second. The wood then emitted light for several hours. According to Maximilian Ritter, the lead author of the study, chemiluminescence makes it possible to visualise how liquids spread through wood. Design teams could also use it to achieve cool effects.
M. Ritter et al.: Chemiluminescent wood. Carbohydrate Polymers (2024)
