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Development of Advanced Materials and Technology for Green and Sustainable...
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Development of Advanced Materials and Technology for Green and Sustainable Environmental Remediation

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 June 2025 | Viewed by 6844

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hao Qiu

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: sustainable remediation; green technology; trace element; toxicity; model
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Erkai He

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
Interests: heavy metal; soil remediation; effect assessment; immobilization; bioavailability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Xing Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: bioremediation; nanoplastics; environmental behavior; nano-bio interactions; soil health

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental contamination is a global issue that poses a threat to natural resources, ecosystems, and human health. With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the detected levels of various pollutants such as heavy metals, organic compounds, pesticides, and engineering nanoparticles are gradually proliferating. This necessitates greater attention towards pollution control and environmental governance. While traditional remediation technologies have proven effective, they also raise concerns regarding secondary pollution, high costs and societal acceptance. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of advanced materials and technology that facilitate green and sustainable remediation; these technologies must integrate innovative, efficient, integrative, and cost-effective solutions in order to improve ecological environments while supporting sustainable transitions and enhancing urban ecosystem services.

This Special Issue aims to compile recent research studies on the application of advanced materials and technologies to remediate or restore soil, water, and air environments contaminated with heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, as well as other emerging pollutants. The articles presented in this Special Issue may also cover topics such as the optimization of sustainable and green remediation tools; key factors (e.g., environmental matrix, global climate change) affecting the effect of remediation; risk assessment; etc. Authors are invited to submit original research papers and reviews that address the following topics:

  1. The development of advanced, green, and eco-friendly materials for the decontamination of pollutants;
  2. Application of chemical, biological, and physical technologies to reduce the bioavailability and toxicity of contaminants;
  3. The potential synergistic effects of combining functional materials (e.g., carbon-, phosphorus-, and iron-based materials) with other remediation methods for ecosystem restoration;
  4. Construction of remediation technology systems based on environmental characteristics or site-specific conditions;
  5. The remediation mechanism involving immobilized materials, functional microbes, hyperaccumulators, and oxidizing agents in pollutant removal;
  6. The transformation, degradation, and occurrence characteristics exhibited by environmental pollutants during the process of remediation;
  7. Screening low pollutant accumulation crops to mitigate the adverse effects caused by soil contaminations on human health.
  8. Employment of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework for assessing the environmental impacts associated with different remediation strategies.

The topic at hand is expected to capture your interest, and we look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.

Dr. Hao Qiu
Dr. Erkai He
Dr. Xing Li
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. Materials 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 2600 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

  • sustainable environmental remediation
  • heavy metal
  • emerging pollutants
  • bioavailability
  • toxic effect
  • ecological health
  • numerical model
  • risk assessment

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3152 KiB  
Article
Chromium Substitution Extraction Method for Its Recovery from Chromium-Tanned Leather Waste
by Lesław Świerczek, Paulina Hercel, Izabela Konkol, Ksawery Kuligowski and Adam Cenian
Materials 2025, 18(1), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18010118 - 30 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1023
Abstract
The leather industry generates significant amounts of waste, including chromium-tanned leather waste (CTLW), which poses environmental and health hazards due to chromium’s potential toxicity. Efficient management of CTLW is crucial for environmental sustainability and resource recovery. Various methods exist for chromium recovery, including [...] Read more.
The leather industry generates significant amounts of waste, including chromium-tanned leather waste (CTLW), which poses environmental and health hazards due to chromium’s potential toxicity. Efficient management of CTLW is crucial for environmental sustainability and resource recovery. Various methods exist for chromium recovery, including physical, chemical, and biological processes, with chemical methods, particularly substitution extraction using organic acids, showing promising results. This study investigates the use of organic acids for the substitution extraction of chromium from CTLS, with a focus on safety by monitoring the concentration of toxic chromium (VI). It was found that oxalic acid (OA) at a temperature of 43.6 °C and a concentration of 1.34% achieved an extraction efficiency of 63.1% while maintaining minimal hydrolysis at 0.70%. This method offers a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to chromium extraction from CTLW, addressing a critical need in waste management practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Advanced Materials and Technology for Green and Sustainable Environmental Remediation)
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16 pages, 4103 KiB  
Article
Fabrication of CaCO3 Microcubes and Mechanistic Study for Efficient Removal of Pb from Aqueous Solution
by Ufra Naseer, Asim Mushtaq, Muhammad Ali, Moazzam Ali, Atif Ahmad, Muhammad Yousaf and Tianxiang Yue
Materials 2024, 17(22), 5523; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17225523 - 12 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 863
Abstract
Pb(II) contamination in aquatic environments has adverse effects on humans even at a low concentration, so the efficient removal of Pb at a low cost is vital for achieving an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and healthy society. A variety of CaCO3-based functional [...] Read more.
Pb(II) contamination in aquatic environments has adverse effects on humans even at a low concentration, so the efficient removal of Pb at a low cost is vital for achieving an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and healthy society. A variety of CaCO3-based functional adsorbents have been synthesized to remove Pb, but the adsorption capacity is still unsatisfactory. Herein, calcite CaCO3 microcubes/parallelepipeds are synthesized via simple precipitation and a hydrothermal approach and found to outperform previously reported nano-adsorbents considerably. The CaCO3 achieves a high removal efficiency for Pb(II) (>99%) at a very low dosage (0.04–0.1 g/L) and an initial Pb(II) concentration of 100 mg/L. The CaCO3 presents an excellent adsorption capacity of 4018 mg/g for Pb(II) removal and depicts good stability over a wide range of pH 6–11. The maximum adsorption kinetics are fitted well by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, whereas the Freundlich isotherm delineates the adsorption data at equilibrium well, indicating a multilayer adsorption process. The ex situ study confirms that the Pb(II) adsorption mechanism by CaCO3 can be attributed to the rapid metal-ion-exchange reaction between Pb(II) and Ca2+. Furthermore, a red shift in the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy peak from 1386 cm−1 to 1374 cm−1 of CaCO3 after Pb removal indicates the adsorption of Pb onto the surface. This adsorbent provides an opportunity to treat wastewater and can be extended to remove other toxic heavy metals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Advanced Materials and Technology for Green and Sustainable Environmental Remediation)
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16 pages, 4008 KiB  
Article
Role of Woody Biomass Ash Material in Immobilization of Cadmium, Lead and Zinc in Soil
by Elżbieta Rolka, Mirosław Wyszkowski, Andrzej Cezary Żołnowski and Anna Skorwider-Namiotko
Materials 2024, 17(10), 2206; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17102206 - 8 May 2024
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1260
Abstract
Nowadays, we have observed the dynamic development of bio-heating plants that use wood biomass for heating or energy purposes. The result of this process is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as well as in the production of biomass ash (BA). Despite the [...] Read more.
Nowadays, we have observed the dynamic development of bio-heating plants that use wood biomass for heating or energy purposes. The result of this process is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as well as in the production of biomass ash (BA). Despite the waste nature of BA, it should be carefully analyzed and assessed for various applications, including environmental ones. Due to the features attributed to BA, including its alkaline reaction, the high capacity of its sorption complex, relatively low salinity, and significant content of macro- and microelements, a hypothesis was put forward in this work undertaken about the positive role of BA as an immobilizing factor for Cd-, Pb-, and Zn-contaminated soils. This research was based on a pot experiment in which four series were considered: (1) BA; (2) BA + Cd; (3) BA + Pb; and (4) BA + Zn. BA was used at doses of 30, 60, and 90 mg pot−1, and metals at doses of 2 mg Cd, 100 mg Pb, and 300 mg Zn kg−1 of soil. The test plant was corn grown for green mass. The study took into account the influence of BA on the content of the total forms of heavy metals (Metot) and their available forms (Meav). In the soil without the addition of metals, a significant increase in the content of Cdtot and Cdav, and a decrease in the content of Zntot were observed due to the application of BA. The addition of metals against the background of the BA used resulted in a significant increase in Cdtot, Pbtot, and Zntot, as well as an increase in the available forms of Pbav but a decrease in Znav. However, there was no significant increase in the Cdav content. The obtained results may indicate the potentially immobilizing role of BA only in the case of zinc. They may constitute the basis for further, more detailed research aimed at determining the role of BA in the immobilization of various metals in soil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Advanced Materials and Technology for Green and Sustainable Environmental Remediation)
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Review

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27 pages, 4560 KiB  
Review
Photodegradation of Microplastics through Nanomaterials: Insights into Photocatalysts Modification and Detailed Mechanisms
by Yiting Xiao, Yang Tian, Wenbo Xu and Jun Zhu
Materials 2024, 17(11), 2755; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17112755 - 5 Jun 2024
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2909
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) pose a profound environmental challenge, impacting ecosystems and human health through mechanisms such as bioaccumulation and ecosystem contamination. While traditional water treatment methods can partially remove microplastics, their limitations highlight the need for innovative green approaches like photodegradation to ensure more [...] Read more.
Microplastics (MPs) pose a profound environmental challenge, impacting ecosystems and human health through mechanisms such as bioaccumulation and ecosystem contamination. While traditional water treatment methods can partially remove microplastics, their limitations highlight the need for innovative green approaches like photodegradation to ensure more effective and sustainable removal. This review explores the potential of nanomaterial-enhanced photocatalysts in addressing this issue. Utilizing their unique properties like large surface area and tunable bandgap, nanomaterials significantly improve degradation efficiency. Different strategies for photocatalyst modification to improve photocatalytic performance are thoroughly summarized, with a particular emphasis on element doping and heterojunction construction. Furthermore, this review thoroughly summarizes the possible fundamental mechanisms driving the photodegradation of microplastics facilitated by nanomaterials, with a focus on processes like free radical formation and singlet oxygen oxidation. This review not only synthesizes critical findings from existing studies but also identifies gaps in the current research landscape, suggesting that further development of these photocatalytic techniques could lead to substantial advancements in environmental remediation practices. By delineating these novel approaches and their mechanisms, this work underscores the significant environmental implications and contributes to the ongoing development of sustainable solutions to mitigate microplastic pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Advanced Materials and Technology for Green and Sustainable Environmental Remediation)
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