Special Issue "Nanomaterials to Monitor and Improve Environmental Quality"

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ashok Vaseashta
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. International Clean Water Institute, Manassas, VA, USA
2. Biomedical Engineering and Nano Technologies Institute, Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia
3. Ghitu Institute of Electronics Engineering and Nanotechnologies, Chisinau, Moldova
Interests: sensing/detection; nanomaterials; security; defense; foresight; water; ecological chemistry; sustainability
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, major cities globally are in a state of continuous expansion and economic transformation. Booming global economic growth, on one hand, enhances the standard of living, while, on the other hand, it simultaneously presents enormous challenges for environmental ecology and the associated infrastructure needed to sustain well-being in the long-term. This dichotomy may be humanity’s grand challenge for the 21st century, regarding sustaining living standards and simultaneously benefiting from the economic expansion, while preserving ecological integrity. Hence, our entire human civilization confronts a series of critical challenges that represent the direct impacts of anthropogenic pollution on our ongoing existence, including our future industrial and social progress. The subject continues to unfold, as scientific community uses the nexus of technological innovations to balance the benefits of technological innovations with their environmental impact for our continued survival.

Effective solutions to the complexity of problems identified here will demand the integration of diverse scientific and technological disciplines. It is well known that materials approaching nanoscale dimensions exhibit characteristics that uniquely enable novel characteristics in unprecedented ways. Advances in the synthesis of such materials in reduced dimensions and characterization methods allow the means to study, understand, control, and even manipulate the transitional characteristics between isolated atoms and molecules and bulk materials. Recent functional and architectural innovations in nanoscale materials have initiated applications in chem-bio agents’ interrogation, environmental pollution sensing, monitoring, mitigation and remediation, energy harvesting and storage devices, plasmonics, in vivo analysis of cellular processes, and nano-biotechnology-based futuristic health and clinical medicine platforms. Nanotechnology-based sensor platforms enable the direct detection of chemical and biological agents in a label-free, highly multiplexed format over a broad dynamic range. The field is very active and rapidly developing and covers a wide range of disciplines.

The goal of this Special Issue is to form a repository of current and diverse research investigating the various aspects of nanomaterial-based sensors/detector, devices and systems to monitor and mitigate contaminants to improve environmental aspects and enhance safety and sustainability, by soliciting comprehensive reviews and articles of original research and emerging innovations. Topics of interest include:

  1. Nanomaterial-based sensors/detectors for environmental pollution interrogation with high specificity, selectivity and sensitivity;
  2. Nanomaterial-based environmental contamination mitigation strategies. Articles dealing with microplastics and returned pharmaceutics in water are of particular interest;
  3. Nanomaterials for sensing, detection and remediation of new and emerging contaminants;
  4. Integration of nanomaterials in internet of (every) thing, IoT devices;
  5. Nexus of technologies, foresight tools and multi-criteria decisions support analysis and risk assessment to understand and bridge knowledge gaps.

Prof. Dr. Ashok Vaseashta
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Applied Sciences 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 2000 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.

Keywords

  • nanomaterials for environmental sustainability
  • nanomaterials for environmental safety
  • nanomaterials for environmental security
  • nanomaterials for sustainable development
  • ecosystem of innovations
  • technology foresight
  • nanomaterials for pollution monitoring
  • nanomaterials for iot in sensing for sustainable management
  • nanomaterials for contamination mitigation
  • resources management

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

Review
Diversity of Synthetic Dyes from Textile Industries, Discharge Impacts and Treatment Methods
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(14), 6255; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11146255 - 06 Jul 2021
Viewed by 490
Abstract
Natural dyes have been used from ancient times for multiple purposes, most importantly in the field of textile dying. The increasing demand and excessive costs of natural dye extraction engendered the discovery of synthetic dyes from petrochemical compounds. Nowadays, they are dominating the [...] Read more.
Natural dyes have been used from ancient times for multiple purposes, most importantly in the field of textile dying. The increasing demand and excessive costs of natural dye extraction engendered the discovery of synthetic dyes from petrochemical compounds. Nowadays, they are dominating the textile market, with nearly 8 × 105 tons produced per year due to their wide range of color pigments and consistent coloration. Textile industries consume huge amounts of water in the dyeing processes, making it hard to treat the enormous quantities of this hazardous wastewater. Thus, they have harmful impacts when discharged in non-treated or partially treated forms in the environment (air, soil, plants and water), causing several human diseases. In the present work we focused on synthetic dyes. We started by studying their classification which depended on the nature of the manufactured fiber (cellulose, protein and synthetic fiber dyes). Then, we mentioned the characteristics of synthetic dyes, however, we focused more on their negative impacts on the ecosystem (soil, plants, water and air) and on humans. Lastly, we discussed the applied physical, chemical and biological strategies solely or in combination for textile dye wastewater treatments. Additionally, we described the newly established nanotechnology which achieves complete discharge decontamination. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials to Monitor and Improve Environmental Quality)
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