• • The review identifies four design strategies for cellulase-mimetic solid acid catalysts: electrostatic anchoring, hydrophobic microenvironment engineering, spatial confinement, and covalent lock-and-key mechanisms, each addressing specific substrate recognition and catalytic challenges.
• • Biomimetic catalysts enhance cellulose hydrolysis by mimicking cellulase binding domains (CBDs), achieving improved catalytic affinity, selectivity, and durability through local concentration enhancement and synergistic adsorption-catalysis effects.
• • Despite progress, mass-transfer resistance and insufficient structural robustness remain critical bottlenecks in complex biomass conversion systems, limiting industrial scalability.
• • Integration of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) into biomimetic catalysts is proposed as a novel route to develop efficient, recyclable, and hierarchically organized catalytic systems for sustainable cellulose valorization.