Woods provide bioinspiration for engineering materials due to their superior mechanical performance. We demonstrate a novel strategy for large-scale fabrication of a family of bioinspired polymeric woods with similar polyphenol matrix materials, wood-like cellular microstructures, and outstanding comprehensive performance by a self-assembly and thermocuring process of traditional resins. In contrast to natural woods, polymeric woods demonstrate comparable mechanical properties (a compressive yield strength of up to 45 MPa), preferable corrosion resistance to acid with no decrease in mechanical properties, and much better thermal insulation (as low as ~21 mW m⁻¹ K⁻¹) and fire retardancy. These bioinspired polymeric woods even stand out from other engineering materials such as cellular ceramic materials and aerogel-like materials in terms of specific strength and thermal insulation properties. The present strategy provides a new possibility for mass production of a series of high-performance biomimetic engineering materials with hierarchical cellular microstructures and remarkable multifunctionality.

Molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) has been considered as a promising non-noble-metal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst for future clean energy devices. In this work, we report a facile, green, low-cost and scalable method for the synthesis of a Mo₂C-based HER electrocatalyst consisting of ultrafine Mo₂C nanoparticles embedded within bacterial cellulose-derived 3D N-doped carbon nanofiber networks (Mo₂C@N-CNFs) using 3D nanostructured biomass as a precursor. The electrocatalyst exhibits remarkable HER activity (an overpotential of 167 mV achieves 10 mA cm⁻² and a high exchange current density of 4.73 × 10⁻² mA cm⁻²) and excellent stability in acidic media as well as high HER activity in neutral and basic media. Further theoretical calculations indicate a strong synergistic effect between Mo₂C nanoparticles and N-CNFs in the Mo₂C@N-CNF catalyst, which leads to an impressive HER performance.

Hollow Co₃O₄ nanoparticle decorated porous carbon fibers with hierarchical structure and enhanced electrochemical performance have been facilely prepared by electrospinning.