Advanced Adsorbent Materials for Environmental Applications
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: adsorbents; adsorption technology; removal of environmental pollutants; wastewater treatment; advanced oxidation processes; electrochemical oxidation; water reuse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: environmental analysis; removal of environmental pollutants; wastewater treatment; environmental chemistry; advanced oxidation processes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The growing prevalence of persistent and emerging pollutants in water, air, and soil calls for remediation strategies that are high-performance, scalable, and economically and environmentally sustainable. Advanced adsorbent materials are rapidly evolving through the targeted design of porosity, surface chemistry, and structural robustness, enabling high capacity and selectivity toward priority contaminants. This Special Issue aims to highlight recent progress in the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of next-generation adsorbents—including porous carbons (activated, biochar, and graphene-based), zeolites, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), layered double hydroxides, polymeric/hybrid nanocomposites, and bio-derived or biomimetic materials.
We welcome contributions that elucidate adsorption mechanisms (ion exchange, π–π interactions, coordination, and electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding effects), structure–property relationships, and the role of defects and functional groups in driving selectivity and kinetics. Target contaminants include heavy metals, nutrients (nitrate/phosphate), dyes, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, and PFAS and other halogenated organics, in addition to volatile organic compounds and greenhouse gas precursors in air. Studies on adsorption kinetics, regeneration and recyclability, resistance to fouling, and the integration of adsorbent materials into hybrid systems (e.g., adsorption–photocatalysis, membrane–adsorption, and electroadsorption) are especially encouraged.
Original research articles and reviews on the latest advances are both welcome, including works employing advanced in situ/operando spectroscopic or microscopic characterization, theoretical and computational modeling of adsorption phenomena, and machine-learning-guided materials discovery. Contributions addressing green and sustainable synthetic routes, benign precursors, regeneration strategies, and long-term chemical stability of adsorbents are also of particular interest. By bringing together fundamental and applied research from academia and industry, this Special Issue seeks to accelerate the translation of advanced adsorbents into robust environmental technologies for safe water, clean air, and resilient ecosystems.
Dr. Angelo Fenti
Dr. Pasquale Iovino
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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. Molecules 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 2700 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
- advanced adsorbents
- MOFs/COFs and porous carbons
- PFAS and emerging contaminants
- adsorption mechanisms and kinetics
- regeneration and stability
- hybrid processes (photocatalysis and membranes)
- green synthesis
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