Mika Sipponen, Associate Professor at Stockholm University and PI in WWSC has published an invited comment in Nature Reviews Materials, presenting a perspective on how lignin’s complexity can be harnessed via nanoparticles and molecular design to create advanced, sustainable materials with tunable properties and lifecycle performance.
Lignin has evolved from a perceived “waste” into one of the most promising renewable feedstocks for a sustainable society. The publication reviews developments in lignin-based materials over the past decade, integrating a personal research trajectory with future perspectives.
“It emphasizes that lignin’s inherent heterogeneity, rather than a limitation, can be harnessed as a design principle for advanced materials”, says Mika Sipponen.
By positioning lignin within the context of advanced materials in a leading journal, Mika Sippinen aims to attract more students to the field of renewable lignocellulose-based materials and stimulate new interdisciplinary collaborations.
Read the publication
Sipponen, M.H. Leveraging the molecular complexity of lignin for high-performance bio-based materials. Nat Rev Mater (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-026-00910-w
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-026-00910-w
Preprint: https://zenodo.org/records/19059794