Antimicrobial TMSAH-added wood-inorganic composites prepared by the sol-gel process

To add stable antimicrobial properties to woods, an amphoretic sterilant, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl (carboxymethyl) decylmethyl ammonium hydroxide inner salt (TMSAH) was applied to the sol-gel process, as SiO2 wood-inorganic composites were prepared. The obtained TMSAH-added SiO2 composites could reveal the high antimicrobial activities against a fungal attack by brown-rot fungi, bur their activities against white-rot fungi were somewhat less. This result would be, therefore, due to the amphoteric nature of the TMSAH sterilant, which was stable under acidic conditions. However, the addition of property-enhancer, 2-haptadecafluorooctylethyltrimethoxysilane (HFOETMOS) to the above reaction system could provide HFOETMOS-(TMSAH-SiO2) composites with water-repellency and its water-repellent property has improved antimicrobial activities in the composites, against both brown-rot and white-rot fungi.