Turning wood into honeycombs: Wood is an attractive material for structural applications, but it usually works best as boards or sheets. Xiao et al . have developed a process for engineering hardwood that allows these sheets to be manipulated into complex structures (see the Perspective by Tajvidi and Gardner). The key is to manipulate the cell wall structure by shrinking and blasting open the fibers and vessels by drying and “water-shocking” them. This process creates a window wherein the wood can be manipulated without ripping or tearing. Honeycomb, corrugated, or other complex structures are locked in once the wood dries. —BG

The applicability of advanced composite materials with hierarchical structure that conjugate metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with macroporous materials is commonly limited by their inferior mechanical properties. Here, a universal green synthesis method for the in situ growth of MOF nanocrystals within wood substrates is introduced. Nucleation sites for different types of MOFs are readily created by a sodium hydroxide treatment, which is demonstrated to be broadly applicable to different wood species. The resulting MOF/wood composite exhibits hierarchical porosity with 130 times larger specific surface area compared to native wood. Assessment of the CO₂ adsorption capacity demonstrates the efficient utilization of the MOF loading along with similar adsorption ability to that of pure MOF. Compression and tensile tests reveal superior mechanical properties, which surpass those obtained for polymer substrates. The functionalization strategy offers a stable, sustainable, and scalable platform for the fabrication of multifunctional MOF/wood‐derived composites with potential applications in environmental‐ and energy‐related fields.

The excellent properties of wood utilized as an engineering material are detracted by the complex wood–water interactions and the resulting dimensional instability and low durability against biological degradation. Inspired by the lotus effect, mechanically durable superhydrophobic coatings were successfully fabricated on intrinsically heterogeneous wood substrates by simply dip-coating in suspensions of hydrophobic silica (SiO₂) nanoparticles dispersed in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) solution. Subsequent low-surface-energy treatment with some expensive reagents is not necessary owing to the hydrophobic nature of PDMS and the modified silica particles. The surface microstructure, roughness and wetting behavior of the PDMS–silica hybrid coatings on wood surfaces were investigated in relation to the loadings of the silica particles in the PDMS matrix. When the silica particle loading reached a critical level, desirable hierarchical micro/nanostructures were formed on the wood substrate, allowing for the generation of superhydrophobicity with a contact angle of 152° and a sliding angle of less than 10°. The fabricated PDMS–silica hybrid coating exhibited desirable durability against mechanical abrasion and high-frequency ultrasonic washing in water whilst basically retaining its microstructure and superhydrophobicity. Such mechanically durable superhydrophobic wood surfaces with self-cleaning properties offer an interesting alternative for wood modification, and could improve the performance of wood as an engineering material.

Fungi decay helps wood produce efficient electricity under mechanical stimuli, boosting energy efficiency of future buildings.

Elegant design principles in biological materials such as stiffness gradients or sophisticated interfaces provide ingenious solutions for an efficient improvement of their mechanical properties. When materials such as wood are directly used in high‐performance applications, it is not possible to entirely profit from these optimizations because stiffness alterations and fiber alignment of the natural material are not designed for the desired application. In this work, wood is turned into a versatile engineering material by incorporating mechanical gradients and by locally adapting the fiber alignment, using a shaping mechanism enabled by reversible interlocks between wood cells. Delignification of the renewable resource wood, a subsequent topographic stacking of the cellulosic scaffolds, and a final densification allow fabrication of desired 3D shapes with tunable fiber architecture. Additionally, prior functionalization of the cellulose scaffolds allows for obtaining tunable functionality combined with mechanical gradients. Locally controllable elastic moduli between 5 and 35 GPa are obtained, inspired by the ability of trees to tailor their macro‐ and micro‐structure. The versatility of this approach has significant relevance in the emerging field of high‐performance materials from renewable resources.