Biomass-derived carbon materials (BC) have demonstrated significant promises in fields such as adsorbents, catalysts/catalyst supports, energy storage, and gas storage due to their versatile properties such as developed pore structure, outstanding electrical conductivity, and mechanical stability. In recent years, biomass-derived monolithic carbon materials (BMC) have garnered increasing attention. By overcoming the limitations of traditional powdered BC materials—such as operational difficulties, high usage losses, and safety concerns, thus significantly expanding the research scope of BC. In this paper, the recent advances in BMC materials−including the synthesis strategy and their applications in energy storage (including energy storage, electrochemical catalysis) and environmental remediations (pollution control, carbon capture, et al.) −have been reviewed comprehensively for the first time. At last, the remaining challenges and new outlooks on the research of BMC have also been proposed. It is expected that this review paper would assist the reader working on BMC and interested newcomers to acquire concise and systematic information as well as contribute novel ideas over a wide spectrum of disciplines. This review presents the first systematic summary of current research on the synthesis of biomass-derived monolithic carbon materials and their diverse applications in energy storage, electrocatalysis, pollution control, and carbon dioxide capture, followed by a rational outlook on their future development. • Unlike previous studies that predominantly focused on powdered biomass-derived carbon materials, this review systematically centers on monolithic biomass-derived carbon materials, aiming to provide a broader reference for biomass-derived carbon materials of various forms. • It comprehensively outlines the synthesis strategies for monolithic biomass-derived carbon materials, offering detailed explanations from raw material selection to various preparation and molding pathways, thereby serving as a valuable reference for researchers in related fields. • Furthermore, it highlights the research and applications of monolithic biomass-derived carbon materials in areas such as energy storage, electrocatalysis, pollution control, and carbon dioxide capture, demonstrating their vast potential and promising prospects in these domains.
Yang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.