Multiscale Engineered Waste Wood Particles Toward a Sustainable, Scalable, and High-Performance Structural Material

Developing sustainable and lightweight structural materials is a promising strategy for reducing carbon emissions in transportation and buildings. However, producing high-performance bulk structural materials from sustainable biomass materials while maintaining excellent mechanical strength remains a major challenge, especially for further scale-up. Herein, a scalable and robust bottom-up strategy is reported to fabricate bulk wooden plate (W-plate) with a typical "brick-and-mortar" structure from engineered wood particles via moderate delignification and in situ LiCl/DMAc treatment followed by hot-pressing. The W-plate constructed by delignified wood particles and regenerated cellulose nanofibers can achieve a confluence of mechanical strengthening and toughening by the ordered lamination structure and multiscale cellulose micro/nanofiber crosslinking interactions, resulting in high flexural strength (225.17 +/- 12.18 MPa) and high fracture toughness (4.01 +/- 0.53 MPa m(0.5)) while maintaining a low density (1.34 g cm(-3)), superior to typical metals and ceramics. Moreover, the W-plate exhibits advantageous thermal properties, including a low thermal expansion coefficient (<19 x 10(-6) K-1) and a high storage modulus (>7.5 GPa) compared to those of petroleum-based polymers. Coupled with abundant and renewable raw materials, all-cellulose components, and scalable and recyclable fabrication, the W-plate can potentially be used as a high-performance, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative for engineering applications.