Wood and Cellulose: the Most Sustainable Advanced Materials for Past, Present, and Future Civilizations

Wood, with its constituent building block cellulose, is by far the most common biomaterial on the planet and has been the most important material used by humans to establish civilization. If there is one single biomaterial that should be studied and used by materials scientists across disciplines to achieve a sustainable future, it is cellulose. This perspective provides insights for the general materials science community about the unique properties of wood and cellulose and how they may be used in advanced sustainable materials to make a substantial societal impact. The focus is on sawn wood or cellulose fibers produced at scale by industry and the more recent cellulosic nanomaterials, highlighting the areas where these cellulose-based materials can be valorized into higher-order functions. Numerous articles have comprehensively reviewed different areas where cellulose is currently used in advanced materials science. The objective here is to provide general insight for all material scientists and to provide the opinions about the areas in which cellulose and wood have the largest potential to make a significant societal impact, especially to realize next-generation sustainable materials for construction, food, water, energy, and information. Discussing key areas where future research is needed to open avenues toward a more sustainable future is ended.