Wood‐Derived Functional Polymeric Materials

Abstract

In recent years, tremendous efforts have been dedicated to developing wood‐derived functional polymeric materials due to their distinctive properties, including environmental friendliness, renewability, and biodegradability. Thus, the uniqueness of the main components in wood (cellulose and lignin) has attracted enormous interest for both fundamental research and practical applications. Herein, the emerging field of wood‐derived functional polymeric materials fabricated by means of macromolecular engineering is reviewed, covering the basic structures and properties of the main components, the design principle to utilize these main components, and the resulting wood‐derived functional polymeric materials in terms of elastomers, hydrogels, aerogels, and nanoparticles. In detail, the natural features of wood components and their significant roles in the fabrication of materials are emphasized. Furthermore, the utilization of controlled/living polymerization, click chemistry, dynamic bonds chemistry, etc., for the modification is specifically discussed from the perspective of molecular design, together with their sequential assembly into different morphologies. The functionalities of wood‐derived polymeric materials are mainly focused on self‐healing and shape‐memory abilities, adsorption, conduction, etc. Finally, the main challenges of wood‐derived functional polymeric materials fabricated by macromolecular engineering are presented, as well as the potential solutions or directions to develop green and scalable wood‐derived functional polymeric materials.

Recent advances in the valorization of plant biomass

“…a The partial chemical structural of cellulose; b The partial chemical structural of hemicellulose; c The structural characteristics of three typical units in lignin; d the common linkages between different lignin units ( Adopted from Ref. [ 34 , 253 ]) …”

UV-Curable Bio-Based Polymers Derived from Industrial Pulp and Paper Processes

“…Figure 3 shows a scheme of the catalytic processes that could be conducted to obtain chemicals and fuels. Several industrial sources of lignin, which have different features according to the used method, are available [2,3,22,23]. The main ones are: Lignin can be separated by chemical, physical and biological processes [21].…”

“…Among the different possibilities of using lignin, rosin, terpenes and the relative bio-based derivates obtained from the pulp and paper industrial process, this review has focused on UV-curable applications. Several works illustrate the role of such applications in polyesters, polyurethanes, epoxy resins, foam, hydrogels and aerogels [1,3,22,23]. However, there is a lack of information about this specific approach to obtain different bio-based products.…”

“…Figure 3 shows a scheme of the catalytic processes that could be conducted to obtain chemicals and fuels. Several industrial sources of lignin, which have different features according to the used method, are available [ 2 , 3 , 22 , 23 ]. The main ones are: Kraft lignin (KL), which is a by-product of the paper and pulp industry after lignocellulose has been treated at an elevated temperature (170 °C) and pressure.…”

Sustainable Thermoplastic Elastomers Derived from Lignin Bio‐Oils via an ABA Triblock Copolymer Strategy

“…Controlled polymerization methods, such as atom transfer radical polymerization, reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization, and acyclic diene metathesis polymerization, have been applied to make value‐added polymeric materials from lignin. [ 22–25 ] The predetermination of the high chain terminal fidelity of the first soft block (macroinitiator) is a crucial step to prepare lignin‐based triblock copolymers. Single electron transfer–living radical polymerization (SET–LRP) provides rapid access to create the desired polymer at ambient temperatures with very high terminal group fidelity irrespective of the conversion.…”