Polyvinyl acetate-based copper nanofluid coated wood surface enhanced water resistance and thermal conductivity

Wood is a hygroscopic bio-composite material that may absorb and desorb water from its surroundings to maintain equilibrium, causing biodegradation and deformation of wood structures. Besides, wood is low thermally conductive material compared to other building materials. Therefore, the objective of this study was to enhance the water resistance and thermal conductivity of wood. Nanofluids are a new category of engineering materials consisting of nanometer-sized particles dispersed in a base fluid. Herein, copper oxide nanofluid was synthesized in a methanol solution of polyvinyl acetate using 3-hydroxy flavone as a reducing agent. We used nanofluid to coat ten wood surfaces and measured water contact angle and thermal conductivity. Extensive instrumental characterizations and a numerical analysis using the Gaussian 09 software was carried out. CuO nanofluid-coated woods revealed improved water resistance properties (45 %, p ≤ 0.005, t = −4.514) than control samples and 10 % (p ≤ 0.005, t = −1.577) better than PVAc-coated wood. Thermal conductivity improves by an average of 2.5 % (p ≤ 0.005, t = −0.265) in nanofluid-coated wood, while there are almost no improvements in PVAc-coated wood compared to control wood. CuO-PVAc coating could protect the wood from biodegradation while also improving thermal conductivity. This study could entice researchers and manufacturers to develop the utility of wood.