Biomass-Derived Materials: From Molecular Design to Sustainable Applications

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “Biomass-Derived Materials: From Molecular Design to Sustainable Applications”, invites original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and short communications that explore materials derived from renewable biomass resources. Despite rapid growth in this field, significant challenges remain in translating biomass-derived materials from laboratory concepts to scalable, performance-competitive, and sustainable solutions. While biomass-derived materials present a sustainable alternative to fossil-based products, their environmental benefits are dependent on molecular design, processing chemistry, and end-of-life considerations rather than biomass origin alone.

This Special Issue aims to capture multidisciplinary advancements that address fundamental bottlenecks and emerging opportunities in transforming biomass into high-performance materials, with a particular emphasis on studies that move beyond proof-of-concept demonstrations toward mechanistic understanding, structure–property–performance relationships, and process–property coupling across length scales. Studies that provide quantitative sustainability metrics and meaningful comparisons with conventional materials are encouraged. Selected works showcasing scalable processing strategies, industrially relevant performance benchmarks, and cross-disciplinary approaches that integrate chemistry, materials science, and engineering will enrich the thematic collection.

By fostering a collaborative platform for researchers worldwide, this Special Issue seeks to highlight forward-looking research that clarifies design principles, addresses trade-offs between performance and sustainability, and accelerates the responsible deployment of biomass-derived materials in real-world applications.

Dr. Paula Berton
Dr. Julia L. Shamshina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.