Towards the sustainable production of biomass-derived materials with smart functionality: a tutorial review

To meet the ever-increasing demand for the continuous development of human society and carbon neutralization, biomass has been demonstrated to be a pluripotent and powerful alternative. Regardless of the low cost, natural abundance, renewability, and biodegradability of biomass, the role of its unique (bio)chemical features in contributing to the on-demand regulatable structure and widely applicable versatility of the products has sparked growing interest. Besides, sustainable production from biomass to smart materials is believed to be one of the key strategies to achieve the global goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. This review will focus on the green engineering of diverse biomass feedstocks for different applications, and the proposed outline is as follows: First, renewable biomass feedstocks of different hierarchies are introduced. Second, green preparations of biomass-derived materials are systematically categorized from the viewpoint of the structural orientation of the biomass, and the correlation between the biomass's structural features and the sustainability assessments of the preparation process is also discussed. Third, the applications in electrochemical energy storage, biomedical engineering, electronics, and sensing which feature their smart functionality were comprehensively summarized. Fourth, the advantages and the limitations of biomass-derived materials are qualitatively evaluated. Finally, future prospects and directions on the sustainable production of materials with smart functionality from biomass will be presented. We endeavor to offer comparative and balanced views, as well as insights into which biomass is particularly advantageous for specific intelligent applications.