The development of an environmentally benign process for the hydrolysis of cellulose into reducing sugars can be one of the key technologies for making full use of cellulosic biomass in the future. Here, a biomass char sulfonic acid (BC-SO 3 H)-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose in water was achieved under microwave irradiation. The BC-SO 3 H catalysts prepared cheaply from natural bamboo, cotton and starch, showed a much higher turnover number (TON, 1.33-1.73) for this reaction compared to a dilute H 2 SO 4 solution (TON, 0.02), which was likely due to their strong affinity to b-1,4-glycosidic bonds of cellulose. In addition, microwave irradiation played key roles in activating cellulose molecules and strengthening particle collision, which can lead to a remarkable acceleration effect on this heterogeneously catalytic process.

The development of a highly efficient and environmentally friendly process for the hydrolysis of cellulose into reducing sugars could be one of the key technologies for large-scale use of cellulosic biomass in the future. In order to pursue this goal, an ionic liquid (IL)-grafting biochar sulfonic acid catalyst (BC-SO 3 H-IL) was proposed and conveniently prepared with bamboo powder as a carbon resource and 1-(trimethoxy propyl silane)-3-methyl imidazolium chloride as the IL. Its catalytic performance for the heterogeneous hydrolysis of cellulose and bamboo was checked under microwave irradiation. The designed BC-SO 3 H-IL catalyst was found to show much higher turnover number (TON, 3.22-6.23 for cellulose and 0.26-2.53 for bamboo) and excellent repeatability for this hydrolysis compared to the corresponding biochar sulfonic acid (BC-SO 3 H, TON, 1.51-1.81 for cellulose and 0.14-1.33 for bamboo). This is likely to be because the IL groups flexibly joined to biochar sulfonic acid, like cellulose binding domain (CBD) of cellulase, efficiently breaks in the hydrogen bonding network of cellulose molecules. On the other hand, they probably play a harmonious role in the SO 3 H groups (as a catalysis domain (CD) of cellulase) catalyzing cleavage of the β-1,4 glycosidic bonds of cellulose, as supported by TGA characterization and catalytic reaction results.

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