X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Analysis of Wood Degradation in Old Architecture

To investigate the decay mechanisms of red oak (Quercus rubra) and hemor (Schima spp.) woods in the old architectural structure of Xichuan Guild Hall, chemical composition changes were determined and analyzed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that decaying resulted in a noticeable decrease of the O/C from 0.59 to 0.42 in the red oak wooden components. The increase of C1 contribution, decrease of C4 contribution, increase of O1 and O3 contributions, and decrease of O2 contribution indicated that the carbohydrates in red oak wooden components can be easily degraded by fungi compared with lignin. Moreover, decaying resulted in a slight decrease of the O/C from 0.49 to 0.47 in the hemor wooden components. The results of increase of C1 contribution, decrease of C3 and C4 contributions, increase of O1, and decrease of O2 and O3 contributions indicated that carbohydrate and lignin were all degraded by fungi.