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Advances in Sustainable and Functional Bio-Based Porous Materials for Environmental Remediation

A Special Issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049) belonging to the section "Materials Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2027 | Viewed by 2195

Editors

Forest Products Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture, Madison, WI 53726, USA
Interests: lignin-based materials; biomass-derived carbon materials; nanomaterials; catalysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor Assistant
School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Interests: nanocellulose composites; hydrogel; aerogel; film; water remediation; food packaging

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The escalating global environmental crisis, driven by industrialization and anthropogenic activities, necessitates innovative and sustainable remediation strategies. Traditional methods often fall short in addressing the complex array of modern pollutants, including heavy metals, organic compounds, and emerging contaminants. In response, bio-based porous materials (BPMs) have emerged as a transformative solution, leveraging their unique structural and chemical properties for effective environmental cleanup. Derived from abundant and renewable biomass and waste resources, BPMs align intrinsically with circular economy principles by valorizing waste, reducing landfill burdens, and promoting resource recycling. These materials offer significant advantages, including lower energy consumption, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and inherent biodegradability, positioning them as economically viable and environmentally sound alternatives to conventional fossil fuel-based materials.

Dr. Qiangu Yan
Guest Editors

Dr. Yufei Nan
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • bio-based materials
  • porous structure
  • adsorption of heavy metals/organics/dyes/microplastics
  • sustainable processing

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 7833 KB  
Article
Cadmium Toxicity to Zea mays and Its Implications for the Uptake of Other Heavy Metals by the Plant
by Jadwiga Wyszkowska, Agata Borowik, Magdalena Zaborowska and Jan Kucharski
Molecules 2026, 31(8), 1317; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules31081317 - 17 Apr 2026
Viewed by 814
Abstract
Cadmium is an element that is unnecessary for the functioning of plant and animal organisms, and its widespread presence in the environment poses a serious threat to human and animal health. Therefore, effective methods are being sought to remediate soils contaminated with this [...] Read more.
Cadmium is an element that is unnecessary for the functioning of plant and animal organisms, and its widespread presence in the environment poses a serious threat to human and animal health. Therefore, effective methods are being sought to remediate soils contaminated with this element, including through the enrichment of degraded soils with organic matter. To this end, the effectiveness of selected organic sorbents, including starch, fermented bark, compost and humic acids, in mitigating the transfer of cadmium and other heavy metals from soil to plants was assessed. Model studies compared the effects of 15 and 30 mg of cadmium (Cd) per kg of soil with an uncontaminated control sample. The sorbents were applied on a carbon basis at a rate of 3 g C per kg of soil. The test plant was Zea mays. Cadmium was found to significantly impair plant growth, causing reductions of 21%, 85%, and 77% in leaf greenness, aboveground biomass and root biomass, respectively. Excess cadmium increased the translocation of lead, chromium, copper, nickel, zinc, iron, and manganese from the roots to the aboveground parts of the plant, while simultaneously limiting their uptake. All of the organic sorbents tested reduced the negative impact of cadmium on leaf greenness, except starch. Compost and HumiAgra significantly improved the condition of Zea mays plants weakened by cadmium exposure. Cadmium contamination increased soil acidification. pH was positively correlated with maize yield and the SPAD leaf greenness index and negatively correlated with the cadmium translocation index and cadmium content in the aboveground parts of maize. Compost and humic acids are among the most effective and practically feasible approaches for reducing cadmium bioavailability in soil and its accumulation in Zea mays, and are therefore recommended for the remediation of cadmium-contaminated soils. Full article
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16 pages, 6396 KB  
Article
Fe-Modified Sewage Sludge Biochar for Efficient Removal of Nanoplastics from Water: Mechanistic Insights and Multi-Pathway Adsorption Analysis
by Minyan Wang, Jing Zhang, Junjie Zhang, Shuai Wu, Shengye Ou, Cheng Shen, Zhangtao Li, Chan Zhang and Jin Zhang
Molecules 2026, 31(5), 765; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules31050765 - 25 Feb 2026
Viewed by 832
Abstract
Nanoplastics (NPs) have emerged as pervasive aquatic pollutants due to their small size, high surface activity, and potential ecological and health risks. Although sludge-derived biochar is a sustainable adsorbent for NP removal, the relative importance of coexisting adsorption mechanisms remains poorly quantified. Here, [...] Read more.
Nanoplastics (NPs) have emerged as pervasive aquatic pollutants due to their small size, high surface activity, and potential ecological and health risks. Although sludge-derived biochar is a sustainable adsorbent for NP removal, the relative importance of coexisting adsorption mechanisms remains poorly quantified. Here, iron-modified sludge biochar (FeBC) was synthesized and evaluated for NP removal from water. Batch experiments showed that FeBC significantly outperformed pristine biochar, achieving a maximum removal efficiency of 96.09%. Adsorption was strongly pH-dependent, with enhanced removal under acidic conditions due to surface protonation and strengthened electrostatic attraction toward negatively charged NPs. SEM, BET, FTIR, and XPS analyses indicated that electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, π–π interactions, and pore adsorption jointly contributed to NP capture. Importantly, structural equation modeling quantitatively disentangled these mechanisms, revealing electrostatic interactions as the dominant driver (52.6%), followed by hydrogen bonding (23%), pore adsorption (16.6%), and π–π interactions (7.9%), and further identified synergistic and antagonistic relationships among them. These results demonstrate that surface charge regulation governs NP adsorption efficiency, providing a quantitative mechanistic basis for the rational design of biochar-based adsorbents. This study advances a multi-mechanistic framework for understanding and optimizing NP removal while promoting sludge resource valorization. Full article
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