All-biomass-based material with tunable mechanical and optical properties fabricated by multiscale cellulose and lignin from waste wheat straw

Man Zhang; Haoru Tang; Yuan He; Yingli Su; Meng Dong; Binshen Wang; Beini Zeng; Jinfeng Wang

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.145422

All-biomass-based material with tunable mechanical and optical properties fabricated by multiscale cellulose and lignin from waste wheat straw

Int J Biol Macromol. 2025 Jun 20;319(Pt 1):145422. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.145422. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Man Zhang¹, Haoru Tang², Yuan He², Yingli Su³, Meng Dong⁴, Binshen Wang⁵, Beini Zeng¹, Jinfeng Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ National Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Textile Processing and Clean Production, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China.
² Institute of New Energy and Low-carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610207, China.
³ Chongqing City Management College, Chongqing 401331, China. Electronic address: syl@cqc.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Environment-friendly Energy Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: wangbinshen@swust.edu.cn.

PMID: 40545076
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.145422

Abstract

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have shown remarkable promise in biomass separation owing to their exceptional lignin solubility. In this work, we present a streamlined method for producing all-biomass-based materials that eliminates the need for energy-intensive lignin regeneration and DES recovery processes. By precisely modulating cellulose-lignin interactions through DES, we demonstrate tunable control over material properties. Results show that increasing lactic acid (LA) concentration in DES suppresses the degradation of lignin's carbon-carbon bonds while promoting partial cleavage of syringyl (S) units. This results in lignin enriched with phenolic hydroxyl groups, which strengthens hydrogen bonding with cellulose and enhances lignin-cellulose adhesion. These synergistic interactions produce an all-biomass pulp material with exceptional mechanical performance: a tensile strength of ∼32 MPa and a Young's modulus of ∼5445 MPa, significantly surpassing those of pure cellulose pulp (9 MPa and 1455 MPa, respectively). Furthermore, the homogeneity and UV shielding performance of these membranes improves with smaller lignin molecular weights, a higher number of phenolic hydroxyl groups in the lignin structure, or coarser cellulose fibers. This work not only advances the high-value utilization of lignocellulosic biomass but also simplifies production workflows, providing an innovative strategy for designing advanced, fully sustainable biomass-based materials.

Keywords: All-biomass-based material; Deep eutectic solvent; Green functionalization.