Woody biomass, as an important renewable resource, can serve as a substitute for petroleum-based feedstocks. Lignocellulose is the main component of woody biomass, primarily consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. The hierarchical structure of lignocellulose and the interactions between its components render efficient separation particularly challenging. The separation and conversion of components into advanced materials is an essential pathway for achieving their high-value transformation. This review first highlights the structural and chemical characteristics of each component that are most relevant to functional material design and then summarizes recent progress in advanced separation strategies, including cellulose-targeted separation strategy, the hemicellulose-first, and the lignin-first. These strategies are further linked to the development of electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials, demonstrating that the properties of different components influence filler dispersion, conductive network formation, and porosity. Cellulose is assembled into a hydrogen-bonded scaffold to promote the uniform distribution of the filler. Lignin is utilized for its aromatic skeleton to enhance dielectric loss and interfacial coupling. By combining conductive pathways with interfacial polarization and multiscale scattering, effective EMI shielding can be achieved in thin films, paper, and aerogels. This separation-to-function framework provides practical guidance for designing sustainable, high-performance EMI shielding materials derived from lignocellulosic biomass.

In this study, corn stalk was pretreated by steam explosion under various processing conditions, and the antioxidant activity of hydrolysates in the post-process washing liquor was analyzed using the 1, 1'-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) scavenging method. The yield and composition of the hydrolysates obtained under different treatment conditions were also determined; the results indicated that the steam explosion extent had a significant effect on both properties. Under optimized conditions (1.5 MPa, 20 min), the obtained hydrolysate had the highest phenolic compound yield (18.6 mg/g untreated corn stalk) and the highest radical scavenging capacity (IC₅₀=0.24 mg/mL). To confirm the positive effect of phenolic compounds on the antioxidant activity of the hydrolysate, one-step ethanol fractionation was carried out. Due to the enrichment of phenolic compounds, the ethanol-soluble fraction (ESF) exhibited significantly enhanced antioxidant activity with an IC₅₀ value of 0.06 mg/mL, which was close to that of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, IC₅₀ = 0.056 mg/mL). Consequently, this work indicated that phenolic compounds have a significant effect on the antioxidant activity of hydrolysate from steam-exploded corn stalk and that simple one-step ethanol fractionation is an effective way to enrich the phenolic compounds in the hydrolysate and improve the antioxidant activity.

Lignin, the second most abundant bio-renewable polymer in the world after cellulose, is widely used in industrial production. In recent years, nanoparticles have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent properties. Therefore, the preparation of lignin nanoparticles to obtain value-added products is an effective way to utilize their potential completely. This article describes the preparation methods of micro/nanosized lignin with different sizes and shapes, and provides a detailed introduction to their applications in biomedicine.