Metal fluoride nanoparticles are promising because of their low water solubility, which reduces the need for fixatives required in widely used active ingredients in wood preservatives such as copper and boron. The effectiveness of nano metal fluorides was compared to sodium fluoride treated wood samples. Wood specimens treated with homo-dispersed sols of MgF2 and CaF2 were tested against brown-rot (Coniophora puteana) fungi in accordance with standard EN 113. The sols were synthesized using fluorolytic sol-gel synthesis. The mass losses in leached sodium fluoride treated wood samples when exposed to brown-rot fungi was higher than 5%. However, leached nano metal fluoride treated samples exhibited mass losses below 1%. It was found that the combination of MgF2 and CaF2 had a synergistic effect on inhibiting the growth of fungi on wood. Thus, the fluoride introduced into wood in the form of nanoparticles was effective against brown-rot fungi even after leaching and without the use of fixatives.

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