Revealing the behavior and mechanism of surfactant-assisted liquid permeability in Poplar wood

Wood is a sustainable and porous resource that can be utilized to fabricate advanced functional materials. However, the low permeability of liquids within wood poses a challenge to widespread adoption and implementation of technology for producing wood-based functional materials. Surfactants are capable of reducing surface tension of liquids, thus holding promise for enhancing liquid permeability in wood. The effect of four surfactants (JFC-U, Tween 80, OP-10, DDAC) on liquid absorption of copper ethanolamine (CE) in wood was investigated under room temperature and pressure. Surfactants effectively increased liquid absorption of wood up to 2.3 times and weight percent gain by up to 5.8 times compared with that of CE control. The improvement effect of surfactants resulted from three aspects: significantly improved liquid wetting on wood surface, enhanced penetration of liquid in cell lumen, and promoted molecular movement within cell wall. Their contributions varied with the structure of surfactants. Surfactants with linear structure showing significantly reduced surface tension, and cationic surfactants exhibiting high adsorption capacity on wood surface both demonstrated superior efficacy in increasing liquid permeability. This study explored the mechanisms by which surfactants affect liquid permeability within wood, while also provided guidance to select effective surfactants to assist wood impregnation.