Toward sustainable carbon cycling: biomass-derived materials for CO2 conversion

Global CO2 emissions have reached unprecedented levels, intensifying climate change and threatening food security, biodiversity, and agricultural sustainability. Catalytic conversion of CO2 into value-added chemicals and fuels represents a promising strategy toward carbon neutrality, with thermo-, photo-, and electro-catalysis being the major approaches. However, these processes often require high energy inputs, underscoring the need for integration with renewable resources to ensure sustainable benefits. Biomass, as an abundant, carbon-rich, and renewable feedstock, offers unique advantages in CO2 catalytic conversion. Its diverse chemical composition, hierarchical porosity, and abundant functional groups enhance CO2 adsorption and activation, while also enabling structural modulation and heteroatom doping to optimize catalytic performance. In addition, biomass and its derivatives can serve as both catalyst precursors and co-reactants, thereby reducing energy consumption and expanding product diversity. This review systematically summarizes recent progress in biomass-based CO2 conversion through thermo-, photo-, and electro-catalysis, highlighting material design strategies, catalytic mechanisms, and functional roles. Biomass integration into CO2 catalytic conversion not only provides sustainable pathways for reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also supports the development of green agriculture and circular carbon economy. Despite the progress, challenges remain in terms of efficiency, scalability, and mechanistic understanding, which call for interdisciplinary approaches and innovative strategies in future research.