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Innovative Approaches and Materials for Water Treatment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 1688

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 2109, Cyprus
Interests: nuclear chemistry; radiochemistry; radionuclides; microplastics; biochars; xerogels; ad(de)sorption

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: wastewater treatment; carbon nanotubes; nanotechnology; porous materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Soil and Water Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization, 57400 Sindos, Greece
Interests: water/wastewater/waste management; water pollution; water quality; soil nutrients; physicochemical analysis; composting/vermicomposting; biochar; microplastics; circular economy; sustainable agriculture; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A global problem that remains an important issue today is obtaining access to clean drinking water. Nowadays, the pollution of water systems (such as oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and groundwater) has reached higher levels than ever before and will continue to grow. All these pollutants can travel through drinking water and the food chain to humans. The increased levels of primary pollutants in water systems, such as organic pollutants (e.g., dyes, pharmaceuticals, microplastics) and inorganic pollutants (such as heavy and (radio)toxic metals), pose a possible threat to biodiversity and human health. Secondary pollutants, which form in water systems, pose an even greater danger, especially when these pollutants can act as “Trojan horses” for the transport of other contaminants both in the environment and within the human body.

This Special Issue aims to publish high-quality original research papers and review articles focusing on water treatment. Topics include studies dealing with secondary pollutants and their (physico/bio)chemical behavior, decontamination using adsorbent materials (such as biochars, aerogels, including microplastics after special treatment, etc.), and innovative applications of these materials. This encompasses methods like the proposed filter for microplastic collection, membrane filtration, advanced oxidation, softening, biological processes, activated carbon filtration, and ion exchange. Additionally, this Special Issue will explore the collection and reuse of pollutants within the framework of a circular economy.

Suggested themes and article types for submissions:

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Water treatment;
  2. Primary and secondary pollutants;
  3. Innovative adsorbent materials and application to water treatment;
  4. Study of adsorption mechanism using spectroscopy and other sophisticated methods.

We look forward to receiving your contributions

Dr. Ioannis Ioannidis
Prof. Dr. Ioannis Pashalidis
Dr. Dimitrios Giannakoudakis
Dr. Vasiliki Kinigopoulou
Guest Editors

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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 2400 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

  • water treatment
  • secondary pollutants
  • microplastics
  • organic pollutants
  • heavy metals
  • adsorption
  • desorption

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 2378 KiB  
Article
Gram-Scale Green-Emission Carbon Quantum Dots Produced from Wood via the Hydrothermal Synthesis Method for the Detection of Fe (III)
by Pingxuan Mu, Yu Han and Jinxin Wang
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(4), 1958; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15041958 - 13 Feb 2025
Viewed by 556
Abstract
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), a distinctive class of fluorescent carbon nanomaterials, exhibit considerable potential for widespread application across several industries due to their safety, environmental sustainability, excellent water solubility, and tunable yet stable fluorescence properties. Nevertheless, the mass field is limited, and the [...] Read more.
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), a distinctive class of fluorescent carbon nanomaterials, exhibit considerable potential for widespread application across several industries due to their safety, environmental sustainability, excellent water solubility, and tunable yet stable fluorescence properties. Nevertheless, the mass field is limited, and the cost of production is higher for the majority of methods. This study examines a cost-effective approach for the hydrothermal synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) from wood using NH3·H2O as the nitrogen precursor, facilitated by H2O2 and ultraviolet light. The produced N-CQDs demonstrate superior crystallinity and solubility in water, with the average particle size of 5.02 nm. After 10 experiments under the same conditions, a significant and stable yield of 5.04 g (42 wt%) was finally obtained by hydrothermal synthesis. The N-CQDs solution exhibits green fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light, and its fluorescence performance is influenced by concentration and excitation wavelength. Furthermore, it explores their application in identifying Fe (III) in water. The surface of N-CQDs is abundant in hydrophilic hydroxyl groups, distinctive nitrogen-containing groups, and various oxygen-containing functional groups. Fe (III) can extinguish fluorescence in water. The ratio of fluorescence intensity before and after to the addition of Fe (III) solution to the N-CQDs solution (F0/F) exhibits the effective linear correlation within the concentration range of 0.1 to 100 μmol/L. Within the concentration range of 100 to 1000 μmol/L, the increase in Fe (III) concentration results in substantial aggregation of Fe (III) and N-CQDs, along with a blue shift in the fluorescence wavelength. This discovery possesses significant potential for the synthesis and application of environmentally friendly, high-yield N-CQDs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Approaches and Materials for Water Treatment)
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