Synthesis and Characterization of Advanced Adsorption Materials and Their Role in Environmental Applications

Dear Colleagues,

We live in a time when our world is facing many environmental problems that threaten our living space and negatively affect our quality of life, our health, and the ecosystem as a whole. The constant growth of the human population, industrialization, unsustainable production practices, agricultural activities, and excessive use of chemicals since the industrial revolution contribute to pollution and inappropriate management of the environment.

Awareness and acceptance of our responsibility for environmental management have led us to the realization that, as a society, we need to take more active positions in the research and development of innovative technologies for environmental remediation and to influence government stakeholders to take appropriate regulatory and restrictive legislative measures for the protection of the environment against pollution.

The social challenges associated with the need for a clean environment, air, water, and soil dictate the use of different remediation technologies, and, in all of those areas, adsorption technologies are a part of the solution. The development of adsorption technologies is strongly related to the development of adsorption materials. Adsorption is a surface phenomenon that, due to mutual attractive forces, enables the accumulation of atoms, molecules, or ions of the adsorbate on the surface of the solid adsorbent. The ideal adsorbent must show good adsorption capacity, good selectivity, good kinetic properties, good thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability, but on the other hand, it must also enable easy desorption of the adsorbate, regeneration, and it must be environmentally friendly and economically acceptable.

Although significant progress has been made in recent years in the research and development of innovative nanostructured adsorption materials with adapted functional and surface properties and porosity, the potential use of the adsorption properties of these materials remains relatively unexplored. There is still plenty of room in this area for research and development of new and better adsorption materials, which will significantly contribute to solving future environmental challenges with their improved adsorption properties.

We have the responsibility to future generations to keep the environment clean and healthy.

The aim of this Special Issue is to encourage researchers around the world to share their most interesting and promising works. We strive to publish credible and up-to-date information on the preparation of new and innovative adsorption materials and their use in adsorption applications and related fields. For this purpose, original research articles, review scientific articles, and short communications, as well as articles describing current research trends and future perspectives in the fields of adsorbent development and adsorption technologies, are welcome.

Potential topics of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to the following: development of new adsorption materials (porous micro-/nano-structured inorganic materials, organic/inorganic hybrid materials, polymeric materials, natural materials, etc.); new synthesis strategies and techniques; scale-up synthesis; characterization of structural, surface, and other physicochemical properties and ecotoxicity of adsorbents, and their adsorption applications in the removal of pollutants from air, soil and water (removal and purification of chemicals, drugs, pharmaceuticals and biological substances, pesticides, herbicides, fumigants, polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons, organic micropollutants, microplastics, heavy metals, rare-earth elements, radionuclides, impurities from liquids and gases, air pollutants, removal of dyes in decolorization processes, separation and storage of gases, etc.); basic and practical aspects of adsorption and adsorption processes (adsorption mechanisms, desorption, regeneration, equilibrium data, adsorption isotherms, kinetic models, thermodynamics, batch methods, fixed-bed type processes, fluidized beds, pulsed beds, new measurement techniques, etc.).

It is my great pleasure, to invite you to submit original research articles, review scientific articles, and short communications for publication in this Special Issue.

Dr. Aljoša Košak
Guest Editor

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