All-natural bioinspired nanolignocellulose-derived bulk engineering materials with excellent mechanical properties and environmental stability

Abstract The construction of sustainable biomimetic lightweight material with excellent mechanical properties is a kernel part of global organic − inorganic composite engineering material. However, the lack of efficient manipulation techniques for micro/nanostructural control and the intrinsic contradiction between certain engineering material performances (such as strength and toughness) make it challenge for materials to achieve these performance targets simultaneously. Herein, inspired by ordered multilayered microstructures of pearl layers, we propose a method to prepared lignocellulose into bioinspired laminated bulk artificial wooden engineering materials (AWEM) by scalable mechanical/chemical mineralization and directional deforming assembly approach. The resulting AWEM with a combination of large-size ultralightweight, high specific strength, high toughness, durable dimensional stability, and superior liquid resistance including acid/alkali solutions and boiling water. This design strategy not only allows mass production of lightweight engineering materials with high strength-to-weight ratios, but also opens a way for the design of more biomimetic materials based on nanolignocellulose.