Functionalized Bio-Based Polymers for Environmental Applications
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Circular and Green Sustainable Polymer Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 August 2025 | Viewed by 121
Special Issue Editor
Interests: chemical modification of natural polymers; bacterial cellulose; zwitterionic functionalization of cellulose and starch; solid-state NMR; chemical structure and interactions in biopolymers and materials; dye adsorption in ionic cellulose devices; hybrid materials; chemical compatibilization of cellulose
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural polymers such as polysaccharides show outstanding characteristics in the design of new sustainable biomaterials, either due to their intrinsic properties of biodegradability, renewability, relative abundance, and profitability or because of the feasibility of their chemical modification. From a chemical point of view, the chemical functionalization of polysaccharides with different moieties becomes attractive because the modification confers new or improved properties for a more versatile application. Polysaccharides such as cellulose, starch, chitosan, chitin, amylose, amylopectin, and microbial exopolysaccharides have been used in devices for environmental applications such as wastewater treatment.
Recently, functionalized polysaccharides have been applied for bioremediation processes due to their improved affinity for the pollutants in water streams. Carbohydrates are also used as adsorbents, which are obtained by coupling reactions generating hybrid materials or composites. These new polymers remove contaminants from water through complexation, precipitation, ionic interactions, chemical bonding, etc. Therefore, the environmental application of polysaccharides is a growing field for pollutant removal in water and soil regeneration.
This Special Issue deals with the most recent contributions to the development of functionalized polysaccharides used as sustainable adsorbents or green devices for environmental applications. Furthermore, new insights into the adsorption mechanisms involved in the adsorbent–adsorbate interaction are highly welcomed.
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Manríquez-González
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 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. 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
- functionalized polysaccharides
- chemical modification
- natural polymers
- biocomposites
- environmental applications
- biodegradability
- sustainable biomaterials
- wastewater treatment
- bioremediation processes
- chemical and structural characterization
- pollutant removal
- soil regeneration
- moiety interactions in polysaccharides
- green devices
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