Functional Polymeric Adsorbents

Dear Colleagues,

Due to chemical contamination, water pollution remains a serious environmental and public problem. Drainage of toxic metals and organic compounds to the surface waters poses a threat to the aquatic environment, with such effects as acute and chronic toxicity in aquatic organisms, accumulation of pollutants in the ecosystem, and loss of habitats and biodiversity. As a matter of priority, causes of pollution should be identified and emissions of pollutants should be dealt with at source, in the most economically and environmentally effective manner (Directive 2013/39/EU as regards priority substances in the field of water policy). Organic compounds such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, surfactants, pesticides, and synthetic dyes along with heavy metal ions are often found in the industrial and domestic waste waters as a result of their wide uses. They are common contaminants in wastewaters, and many of them are known to be toxic or carcinogenic.

Adsorption is one of the most attractive methods for the extraction of molecules or ions from aqueous solutions, as it can be conducted in mild conditions. In order to create both an efficient and sustainable process, the decisive aspect is the type of sorbent material. In this light, biomacromolecules, biobased and biodegradable polymers, are promising materials for the synthesis of functional adsorbents due to their unique physicochemical properties, specific functionality, abundance, and low cost. Therefore, this Special Issue is focused on the development of functional adsorbents for water purification. Original research papers and short reviews addressing the synthesis, characterization, and investigation of the influence of biomacromolecules’ originality and nature on the properties of functional materials as perspective adsorbents for water treatment are invited for submission.

Dr. Tetyana Budnyak
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-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.

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