Progress and Application of Functional Polymers in Water and Wastewater Treatment
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 96
Editor
Interests: wastewater treatment and resource recovery; biological nutrient removal; biodegradation; functional polymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Functional polymers have emerged as a class of advanced materials offering tailored physicochemical properties—such as high surface reactivity, selectivity, responsivity, and regenerability—making them highly promising for next-generation water and wastewater treatment technologies. This Special Issue aims to present cutting-edge research on the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of functional polymers for efficient and sustainable water purification and wastewater treatment.
We invite contributions covering, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Novel functional polymer-based adsorbents for heavy metals, dyes, and emerging contaminants (e.g., PFAS, pharmaceuticals, microplastics).
- Polymer-based materials for enhanced biological treatment (e.g., carriers, functional fillers, biostimulants).
- Stimuli-responsive polymers (e.g., pH, temperature, light) for controlled pollutant release and material regeneration.
- Polymer-based flocculants and coagulants for enhanced solid–liquid separation.
- Functional polymer membranes for nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, and antifouling applications.
- Polymer–nanomaterial composites (e.g., MOF–polymer, graphene–polymer) for synergistic pollutant removal.
- Biodegradable and bio-inspired polymers for environmentally benign treatment systems.
Polymer-based catalytic systems (photocatalysis, Fenton-like reactions) for degradation of recalcitrant pollutants.
Prof. Dr. Xin Zhou
Guest Editor
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers 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
- functional polymers
- water purification
- adsorption and membrane filtration
- enhanced biological treatment
- sustainable water treatment
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