Volume 19 Issue 2

This paper reviews the positive attributes and challenges of bamboo usage in carbon absorption, water, and wastewater purification. Bamboo can serve as a habitat for a variety of creatures and supports a diversified ecology. Bamboo roots can cast a fibrous net into the ground to prevent soil erosion and degradation. As the water passes through this woven mesh, the bamboo roots act as a filter, drawing toxins and other contaminants out of the water. Bamboo can treat wastewater effectively in free-water surface, horizontal flow, and vertical flow constructed wetlands. Bamboo charcoal has exceptional filtering properties for cleaner drinking water and better air quality. Additionally, bamboo can be used to form cellulose-based membranes. Bamboo is a renewable resource for creating paper, furniture, and building materials. Bamboo has various benefits. Thus, bamboo forests offer opportunities for rural communities to thrive economically.

Fungi are a diverse group, and they are essential for health, the economy, and food. Interest in these organisms has increased because of the importance and effect of their chemical components viz., phenolic compounds, which are considered an alternative source of antioxidants. Antioxidants are compounds that prevent cell damage and can help prevent or counteract certain diseases (cardiovascular, neurodegen-erative, cancer, etc.) because they can improve cell function (changes in enzyme activity, enzyme patterns, membrane fluidity, and responses to stimuli), among others. To date, no adverse side effects have been reported. The difference in production is due to several factors, such as the growth environment, nutrition, cell age, the part from where the phenolic compounds are obtained (pileus, stipe, or mycelium), the extraction method, etc. This article aims to provide an overview of wild edible mushrooms, to promote the study of their antioxidant capacity, and to better understand the nutraceutical potential of edible mushrooms consumed in different parts of the world.

Lignin, with its carbon content of up to 60%, can be an ideal precursor for the preparation of carbon materials. Carbonaceous materials obtained from lignin can be transformed into porous and structural morphologies at different scales, providing a biomass approach to energy conversion and storage in batteries. Focusing on lignin-derived carbon materials, this paper summarizes the different morphologies and structures of lignin-based carbon obtained through different preparation methods, and the different electrochemical properties exhibited by these materials as electrode materials for rechargeable batteries (lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, lithium-sulphur batteries, etc.). In addition, the development prospects and challenges of lignin-based carbon materials in the field of rechargeable batteries are summarized, providing ideas for the next step in the design and development of high-performance lignin-based carbon-based electrode materials.

Chitosan can serve as a natural alternative to petroleum-based components in food packaging; however, the mechanical and barrier properties of pure chitosan film possess certain limitations. This paper presents a comprehensive review on the mechanical and barrier properties of composite films formed by combining chitosan-based films with plasticizers, polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids. These composite films often exhibit superior mechanical strength and enhanced barrier performance compared to pure chitosan film, thereby expanding the potential applications of chitosan in food packaging. Chitosan represents an ideal raw material for developing innovative biofilms that can cater to diverse packaging requirements for various food products while offering promising prospects for broad application.

In recent years, thermosensitive polysaccharide-based injectable hydrogels have gained increasing attention in biomedical applications, including wound healing, drug delivery, and cartilage repair. These hydrogels have favorable biocompatibility, biodegradability, and tunable physical and chemical properties. Thermosensitive polysaccharide-based injectable hydrogels are a class of intelligent soft matter material. They can undergo a reversible liquid-solid transition when exposed to temperature stimuli. Therefore, their precursor solutions can be accurately inserted into target sites with irregular geometries in a minimally invasive way and then transformed into gels in situ by the organism’s temperature stimulation to deliver biologically active molecules. This review summarizes the recent developments of thermosensitive injectable polysaccharide-based hydrogels. The focus is on the mechanism of sol-gel phase transition, as well as the design and preparation of thermosensitive polysaccharides and their applications in biomedical fields. In addition, the outlook of the challenges in biomedical applications is provided at the end of the paper.