The healing of chronic wounds is a global issue that poses a serious threat to public health and healthcare. Biopolymer materials are non-toxic and biocompatible dressings, however, the lack of antimicrobial properties limits their clinical application. This work adopts a top-down approach, utilizing the porous structure of natural wood and the high-water content of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to prepare a flexible wood woundplast containing curcumin. The wood woundplast resolves inherent limitations of traditional dressings, including wound adherence and rapid release, by offering a moisture-retentive environment and sustained release. The dressing exhibits excellent tensile performance, with a tensile strain of up to 270% and the ability to withstand 300 cycles of tensile stress without damage, due to the strong hydrogen bonding between the cellulose in wood and PVA. Moreover, it can absorb wound exudate to facilitate moisture exchange while releasing curcumin. Benefiting from the ability of curcumin to disrupt bacterial cell membranes and inhibit the transcription of inflammatory factors, the wood woundplast possesses dual antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory functions. The wood-based woundplast provides good biocompatibility, uses abundant raw materials, and allows flexible manufacturing, representing an effective dressing to accelerate wound healing.

Cellulose, the most abundant and renewable biopolymer on Earth, offers unique structural tunability and strong affinity to water, making it a promising platform for sustainable water and energy technologies. This review bridges the structure-property-function relationships of cellulose-based materials in two emerging applications: atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) and moisture-enabled electricity generation (MEG). We first summarize the hierarchical structure and cellulose-moisture interactions that govern water adsorption, diffusion, and charge transport behaviors. Then, recent advances in chemical modification, morphological control, and bioinspired design are discussed as key strategies for tailoring cellulose functionality. Particular attention is given to cellulose-based AWH systems, including fog collection, air condensation, and sorbent-based approaches, as well as MEG systems driven by ion transport, electron conduction, and structural gradients. These studies collectively demonstrate how rational design of cellulose networks enables efficient water capture, release, and energy conversion in humid conditions. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives are highlighted, including system-level integration of AWH and MEG, machine learning (ML)-assisted materials optimization, and sustainable manufacturing. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding and design roadmap for advancing cellulose-based materials toward humidity-driven water-energy technologies.

The functional properties of soy protein isolate (SPI) can be enhanced through deamidation. However, the relationships among deamidation degree, structural changes, and functionality remain insufficiently understood. In this study, immobilized protein glutaminase (PGase) was used to achieve mild, controllable SPI deamidation. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize reaction conditions, maximizing deamidation while minimizing hydrolysis. The optimal parameters—54.93  °C, pH 6.80, and an enzyme-to-substrate ratio of 26.65 U·g⁻¹—yielded SPI with high deamidation and low hydrolysis. Increasing deamidation initially improved SPI functionality, but it then plateaued. At the optimal deamination level, the solubility, emulsifying activity, and foaming capacity of SPI increased by approximately 200%, 60%, and 85%, respectively. Additionally, umami and saltiness perceptions were enhanced, while bitterness was significantly reduced. Structural changes were assessed using SDS-PAGE, particle size analysis, zeta potential measurements, microscopy, and spectral analysis. The modification mechanism was further investigated by analyzing oil–water interfacial properties. These findings clarify the influence of deamidation degree on SPI structure and functionality, offering insights for food industry applications.

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) has been extensively studied in the past decade for its ability to convert a diverse range of organic wastes to protein and oil rich biomass. It can potentially play an important role in resource management and help meet the protein needs for animal production. The purpose of this review is to highlight the main findings in a few aspects of published research on BSFL, such as its composition, oil and protein extraction strategies and performance, feed quality and nutritional performance for a few animal species, using frass and biorefining co-products as biofertilizers, the potential to use BSFL oil in sustainable aviation fuel production, bioactive compounds and their demonstrated activities, and the need for comprehensive technoeconomic and life cycle analyses. Research needs and challenges, particularly in the areas of BSFL biorefining and products’ nutritional and functional properties and benefits, are discussed. This review does not cover BSFL production and larvae’s biology or its potential to adapt to substrate and application. Also, not all aspects are intended to be reviewed in the same depth, but the references given should guide the readers to explore more in a particular discipline.

Deinked pulp (DIP) could be a sustainable fiber source for tissue and hygiene products, but it suffers from losses in the physical, mechanical, and softness properties required. To overcome this limitation, DIP was treated with cationic and nonionic surfactants under various refining conditions to enhance the bulk and softness of the DIP handsheets without compromising tensile properties. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses ensure the successful fiber-surfactant interactions. Additionally, the molecular dynamics simulation reveals interactions between cellulose and surfactants, leading to improved bulk and softness, and a higher tensile index (TI)-to-softness ratio, which aligns with the experimental findings. The bulk of the surfactant-treated fibers increased by 16%–57%, resulting in a 70%–76% improvement in softness, and the water absorption capacity also increased by 66.72%–93.31%. The hard-to-remove water content decreased by 14.10%–55.31%, and the tensile index (TI) to softness ratio was 2.71 times and 3.05 times higher than the control unrefined handsheets for cationic and non-ionic surfactants, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed successive pore openings resulting from surfactant treatments, leading to greater spring-back than in the untreated fiber. The surfactant-treated fibers produced tissue handsheets with higher softness, bulk, and enhanced absorption capacity, achieving 93.29%–95.03% spring-back within the first 5 minutes without compromising mechanical properties. Therefore, this chemo-mechanical modification strategy demonstrates strong potential to enhance the properties of recycled fibers for tissue and hygiene product applications.

Engineering forestry bioresources into high-value materials is central to achieving global sustainability goals, but requires innovative strategies, such as leveraging widely available forest-derived biopolymers and bioparticles. This review highlights pathways toward advanced biobased materials by exploiting their inherent interfacial activity to create multiphase functional systems. The distinctive interfacial behavior and physicochemical tunability of forestry-derived components enable robust performance across a wide range of architectures, with particular relevance to emulsion-based platforms. We show that plant-based Pickering emulsions provide versatile templates for applications spanning food formulations, nutrient delivery, and the fabrication of multidimensional structures, including microspheres, fibers, and porous scaffolds. Finally, we discuss emerging challenges and opportunities in interfacial engineering and scalable processing, outlining pathways that bridge biomass valorization with high-performance, sustainable material design.