Wood‐Derived Functional Polymeric Materials

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. Wood components are considered as important feedstocks to fabricate functional materials. An insightful summary of recent wood‐derived functional polymeric materials is provided from the perspective of macromolecular engineering, including the structural characteristics of cellulose and lignin, molecular modification, and subsequent assembly behavior to generate distinctive functional materials.