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Advanced Materials for Environmental Applications

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 April 2024) | Viewed by 7286

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Willem D van Driel

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Guest Editor

Electronic Components, Technology and Materials (ECTM) Group, Department of Microelectronics, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Interests: reliability; systems; integration; virtual prototyping; statistics; health monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Maryam Yazdan Mehr

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Guest Editor

Electronic Components, Technology and Materials (ECTM) Group, Department of Microelectronics Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Interests: photoactive materials; reliability; degradation and failure; optical materials; characterization; nanobiotechnology; integration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Afrouzossadat Hosseini-Abari

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Guest Editor

Department of Cell and Molecular Biology & Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Technology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Interests: microbial biomaterials; nanobiotechnology; antibacterial materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental challenges and issues have become a major concern in the last few years. Global warming, water pollution, and CO₂ emission have dramatically impacted economic growth and industrial development. Different industrial sectors have recently become increasingly interested in finding sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions and products. Sustainable solutions for environmental challenges are often based on the use of advanced materials. Many high-tech devices for environmental applications are indeed developed using highly functional nanomaterials.

This Special Issue on “Advanced Materials for Environmental Applications” intends to collect recent developments, technical reports, and review papers related to the development and use of advanced materials for environmental applications. We welcome the submission of original manuscripts, technical papers, and reviews on all aspects of materials and the environment, including advanced catalyst materials, sensors, polluted water treatment, anti-bacterial materials, recycling, and innovations in green production in all industrial sectors. This Special Issue is oriented not only to researchers from universities and research centers but also to the industries involved in environmental challenges.

Topics addressed in this Special Issue may include, but are not limited to:

Optical, magnetic, and electrical materials for environmental solutions;
Catalyst materials;
Sensors for environmental applications;
Sustainability and reliability assessments;
Anti-bacterial materials;
Self-healing materials;
Recycling;
Green and environmentally friendly solutions and products.

Prof. Dr. Willem D van Driel
Dr. Maryam Yazdan Mehr
Dr. Afrouzossadat Hosseini-Abari
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

modeling
reliability
nanomaterials
materials characterization
anti-bacterial materials
green products and materials
recycling

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 2726 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Composts’ Biochar as Potential Sorbent to Reduce VOCs Emission during Kitchen Waste Storage

by Joanna Rosik, Jacek Łyczko, Łukasz Marzec and Sylwia Stegenta-Dąbrowska

Materials 2023, 16(19), 6413; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16196413 - 26 Sep 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 973

Abstract

It is expected that due to the new European Union regulation focus on waste management, managing kitchen waste will become more important in the future, especially in households. Therefore, it is crucial to develop user-friendly and odour-free containers to store kitchen waste. The study aimed to test the effectiveness of composts’ biochar in reducing noxious odours and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released during kitchen waste storage. Various amounts of compost biochar (0%, 1%, 5%, and 10%) were added to food waste samples and incubated for seven days at 20 °C. The released VOCs were analysed on days 1, 3, and 7 of the storage simulation process. The results indicated that adding 5–10% of composts’ biochar to kitchen waste significantly reduced the emissions in 70% of the detected VOCs compounds. Furthermore, composts’ biochar can be used to eliminate potential odour components and specific dangerous VOCs such as ethylbenzene, o-xylene, acetic acid, and naphthalene. A new composts’ biochar with a unique composition was particularly effective in reducing VOCs and could be an excellent solution for eliminating odours in kitchen waste containers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Environmental Applications)

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13 pages, 5742 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biosynthesis of Copper Oxide and Silver Nanoparticles by Bacillus Spores and Evaluation of the Feasibility of Their Use in Antimicrobial Paints

by Arkan Alali, Afrouzossadat Hosseini-Abari, Abbas Bahrami and Maryam Yazdan Mehr

Materials 2023, 16(13), 4670; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16134670 - 28 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1185

Abstract

Modification of paint with nanoparticles (NPs) provides self-cleaning, water/dirt-repellent, and other properties. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to biosynthesize silver (Ag) and copper oxide (CuO) NPs and to prepare NP-modified paint. To this end, AgNPs and CuONPs were biosynthesized using Bacillus atrophaeus spores and commercial and crude dipicolinic acid (DPA) extracted from the spore of this bacterium. The synthesized NPs were characterized using electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) methods. A minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay of NPs against Escherichia coli ATCC8739 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538 was carried out. The antibacterial effects of prepared NP–paint complexes were assessed using an optical density (OD) comparison before and after adding metal sheets coated with NP–paint complexes into the nutrient broth medium. Four different types of NPs were synthesized in this research: AgNPs synthesized by spore (A), AgNPs synthesized by commercial DPA (B), AgNPs synthesized by crude DPA (C), and CuONPs synthesized by spore (D). SEM analysis confirmed the spherical shape of NPs. According to the results, NPs A, B, and D showed higher antibacterial activity against S. aureus compared to E. coli. Furthermore, the analysis of the antibacterial effects of NP–paint complexes suggested that paint–NPs A, B, and C displayed higher activity on E. coli compared to S. aureus. Moreover, the antibacterial effect of paint–NP D was significantly lower than other NPs. According to this robust antibacterial effect on pathogenic bacteria, it seems that these NP–paint complexes could be useful in public places such as hospitals, airports, dormitories, schools, and office buildings, where the rate of transmission of infection is high. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Environmental Applications)

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15 pages, 13247 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Photocatalytic Removal of Antibiotics from Wastewater Using the CeO₂/ZnO Heterojunction

by Nicolae Apostolescu, Ramona Elena Tataru Farmus, Maria Harja, Mihaela Aurelia Vizitiu, Corina Cernatescu, Claudia Cobzaru and Gabriela Antoaneta Apostolescu

Materials 2023, 16(2), 850; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020850 - 15 Jan 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1722

Abstract

CeO₂/ZnO-based photocatalytic materials were synthesized by the sol-gel method in order to establish heterojunctions that increase the degradation efficiency of some types of antibiotics by preventing the recombination of electron–hole pairs. The synthesized materials were analysed by XRD, SEM, EDAX, FTIR, and UV-Vis. After several tests, the optimal concentration of the catalyst was determined to be 0.05 g‧L⁻¹ and 0.025 g‧L⁻¹ for chlortetracycline and 0.05 g‧L⁻¹ for ceftriaxone. CeO₂/ZnO assemblies showed much better degradation efficiency compared to ZnO or CeO₂ tested individually. Sample S3 shows good photocatalytic properties for the elimination of ceftriaxone and tetracycline both from single solutions and from the binary solution. This work provides a different perspective to identify other powerful and inexpensive photocatalysts for wastewater treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Environmental Applications)

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Review

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15 pages, 2100 KiB

Open AccessReview

Advances in Emerging Catalytic Materials for the Conversion of Carbon Dioxide

by Bingyue Sun, Bingquan Wang and Rui Wang

Materials 2023, 16(23), 7309; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16237309 - 24 Nov 2023

Viewed by 1103

Abstract

The use of fossil fuels leads to significant CO₂ emissions, thus highlighting the importance for investigating the utilization of CO₂ for generating high-value chemical products toward achieving the dual-carbon goal. CO₂ can be efficiently used in synthesizing valuable organic compounds through C-C, C-O, C-H, and C-N bond construction, with reduction technologies effectively converting CO₂ to organic carbon sources. Therefore, the research in developing environmentally friendly catalysts for efficient and renewable CO₂ conversion holds great importance. New materials for catalytic conversion include zeolites, activated carbon, graphene, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), ionic liquids, semiconducting photocatalysts, single-atom catalysts (SACs), and dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (DMSNs). The proper research and use of these materials can aid in the quest to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. This Review focuses on the utilization of single-atom catalysts (SACs), ionic liquids (ILs), dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (DMSNs), and carbene-metal catalytic systems in CO₂ conversion. The potential for new materials in catalyzing the conversion of CO₂ is examined by analyzing various common chemical carbon sequestration methods, ultimately providing possible research directions for effective solutions to climate and environmental pollution problems. On the basis of the high reaction rate and high treatment efficiency of the catalyst for the catalytic conversion of CO₂, the Review focuses on the simpler and more economical synthesis method of the catalyst itself and the wider application prospects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Environmental Applications)

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26 pages, 2403 KiB

Open AccessReview

Bisphenols—A Threat to the Natural Environment

by Magdalena Zaborowska, Jadwiga Wyszkowska, Agata Borowik and Jan Kucharski

Materials 2023, 16(19), 6500; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16196500 - 29 Sep 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1527

Abstract

Negative public sentiment built up around bisphenol A (BPA) follows growing awareness of the frequency of this chemical compound in the environment. The increase in air, water, and soil contamination by BPA has also generated the need to replace it with less toxic analogs, such as Bisphenol F (BPF) and Bisphenol S (BPS). However, due to the structural similarity of BPF and BPS to BPA, questions arise about the safety of their usage. The toxicity of BPA, BPF, and BPS towards humans and animals has been fairly well understood. The biodegradability potential of microorganisms towards each of these bisphenols is also widely recognized. However, the scale of their inhibitory pressure on soil microbiomes and soil enzyme activity has not been estimated. These parameters are extremely important in determining soil health, which in turn also influences plant growth and development. Therefore, in this manuscript, knowledge has been expanded and systematized regarding the differences in toxicity between BPA and its two analogs. In the context of the synthetic characterization of the effects of bisphenol permeation into the environment, the toxic impact of BPA, BPF, and BPS on the microbiological and biochemical parameters of soils was traced. The response of cultivated plants to their influence was also analyzed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials for Environmental Applications)

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