As global efforts towards green development intensify, eco-friendly materials have become pivotal to achieving sustainability. Wood, a natural, renewable, and environmentally benign biomass, holds great promise for green material applications due to its abundance and ecological benefits. Recent advances in functional modification techniques—such as oxidation, grafting, and nanoparticle incorporation—have significantly enhanced wood’s physical and chemical properties while introducing new environmental functions. These developments have expanded its applications in pollution control, resource recovery, and environmental restoration. In particular, modified wood exhibits outstanding adsorption capacity for heavy metal ions (Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺), offering an efficient and sustainable approach to water pollution remediation. This paper reviews the fundamental structure and properties of wood, summarizes recent progress in the development of functionalized wood for heavy metal ion adsorption, and analyzes the influence of various modification methods on adsorption performance. Finally, it outlines future directions for optimizing wood functionalization technologies, providing theoretical foundations and practical guidance for advancing their applications in wastewater treatment and heavy metal pollution control.

In this work, a strategy for hybrid treatment was proposed, aiming to present a hybrid impregnation agent including lignin-derived resin (LR) and surface-modified montmorillonite (GMMT) to treat fast-growing poplar wood. The treating agents could penetrate the wood, fill the cavities of the wood interior, and strengthen the cell wall structure. The optimal WPG of 36.2% was obtained upon the response surface methodology (RSM) at the conditions of 34% LR, 1.8% GMMT, 1.2 MPa impregnation pressure, and 99 min impregnation time. The density, water uptake (WU), modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and compressive strength (CS) of the samples were tested to evaluate the enhancement of the physical and mechanical properties. In addition, these samples were investigated via cone calorimeter (CONE), Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the density of the treated samples increased significantly up to 0.72 g/cm³. Compared with 134.8% of the control, the WU of the treated wood sample could decrease to 60.3%. In addition, the MOR and MOE of the resulting samples reached up to 131.8 MPa and 18.14 GPa, respectively, which were 62.3% and 77.7% higher than the control. Notably, the CS was 84.7 MPa with an increase of up to 94.7%. Moreover, the peak heat release rate (HRR) of the treated sample was obviously reduced to 231.33 kW/m², a decrease of 17.5% compared to the control (271.71 kW/m²).

Injectable self-healing hydrogels are promising biomaterials for wound management, as their ability to autonomously repair enables conformal sealing of irregular wounds. In this study, an injectable hydrogel was fabricated through Schiff base cross-linking of acrylamide-modified chitosan (AMCS) and 50% oxidized alginate (ADA). To enhance its mechanical robustness and hemostatic performance, chitin nanogels (CNGs) were incorporated as a reinforcing component. The structure-property relationships of the resulting hydrogel were characterized using infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and rheological analysis. Rheological studies confirmed that the composite hydrogel (AANGH) exhibited a superior storage modulus and more robust self-healing recovery compared to the base hydrogel (AAH3). MTT assays using L929 fibroblast cells demonstrated outstanding cytocompatibility, with cell viability maintained at over 100%. Furthermore, in vivo hemostatic assessment demonstrated effective hepatic hemorrhage control, characterized by significantly reduced blood loss, shortened hemostasis time, and favorable antibacterial properties. This work establishes that AANGH is an effective strategy for creating a mechanically robust, self-healing, and highly biocompatible chitosan-based hydrogel with strong potential for hemostatic applications.