Sustainable Water and Environmental Technologies of Global Relevance

A special issue of Technologies (ISSN 2227-7080). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2025 | Viewed by 410

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Civil Engineering Science, School of Civil Engineering, and the Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Kingsway Campus, P.O. Box 524, Aukland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa
2. Directorate of Engineering the Future, School of Science, Engineering and Environment, The University of Salford, Newton Building, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, UK
3. Department of Town Planning, Engineering Networks and Systems, South Ural State University (National Research University), 76, Lenin Prospekt, Chelyabinsk 454080, Russia
4. Nexus by Sweden, Skepparbacken 5, 722 11 Västerås, Sweden
Interests: sustainability; environmental engineering; agricultural engineering; environmental science; water resource management; agricultural water management; nature-based solution; pollution control; biological filtration; wastewater treatment; decision support system; treatment wetland; integrated constructed wetland; storm water management; sustainable flood retention basin; dam risk failure; sustainable drainage system; climate change adaptation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

These are uncertain political and socio-economic times worldwide. The pressure on engineers and scientists to come up with new technological solutions to support society in addressing water and environmental challenges in particular is high. Some examples, in no particular order, include the sustainable management of water and environmental resources, optimal water use in agricultural engineering, nature-based solutions for pollution control and wastewater treatment, software-driven decision support systems, storm water management to enhance flood control, and climate change adaptation measures.

Therefore, this Special Issue focuses on ‘Sustainable Water and Environmental Technologies of Global Relevance’ to promote promising solutions to these complex international challenges. The highlighted solutions must have an obvious international application and should advance at least one United Nations Development Goal, such as clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, and climate action.

This Special Issue provides an advanced forum for the latest knowledge in technological studies to both researchers and professionals in water and environmental technologies. Target technologies should relate to monitoring, conservation, or modelling-related advances associated with the Internet of Things, neural networks, and machine learning. This Special Issue will publish original research papers, critical reviews, and timely communications of current and future global relevance with a clear soft or hard technology focus.

We encourage engineers and scientists to publish their technology-based experimental results and theoretical findings in as much detail as is reasonably possible. Therefore, there is no harsh restriction on the maximum length of submissions. Full experimental details should be provided so that the results can be reproduced. Software, technological drawings, and experimental procedures may be deposited as supplementary electronic material.

Prof. Dr. Miklas Scholz
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • agricultural water management
  • climate change adaptation
  • environmental resources
  • flood control
  • software-driven decision support systems
  • storm water management
  • nature-based solutions
  • sustainable water management
  • wastewater treatment
  • water and environmental technologies

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 10677 KiB  
Article
Synthesis of Sm-Doped CuO–SnO2:FSprayed Thin Film: An Eco-Friendly Dual-Function Solution for the Buffer Layer and an Effective Photocatalyst for Ampicillin Degradation
by Ghofrane Charrada, Bechir Yahmadi, Badriyah Alhalaili, Moez Hajji, Sarra Gam Derouich, Ruxandra Vidu and Najoua Turki Kamoun
Technologies 2025, 13(5), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies13050197 - 13 May 2025
Viewed by 190
Abstract
Synthesis and characterization of undoped and samarium-doped CuO–SnO2:F thin films using the spray pyrolysis technique are presented. The effect of the samarium doping level on the physical properties of these films was thoroughly analyzed. X-ray diffraction patterns proved the successful synthesis [...] Read more.
Synthesis and characterization of undoped and samarium-doped CuO–SnO2:F thin films using the spray pyrolysis technique are presented. The effect of the samarium doping level on the physical properties of these films was thoroughly analyzed. X-ray diffraction patterns proved the successful synthesis of pure CuO–SnO2:F thin films, free from detectable impurities. The smallest crystallite size was observed in 6% Sm-doped CuO–SnO2:F thin films. The 6% Sm-doped CuO–SnO2films demonstrated an increasedsurface area of 40.6 m2/g, highlighting improved textural properties, which was further validated by XPS analysis.The bandgap energy was found to increase from 1.90 eV for undoped CuO–SnO2:F to 2.52 eV for 4% Sm-doped CuO–SnO2:F, before decreasing to 2.03 eV for 6% Sm-doped CuO–SnO2:F thin films. Photoluminescence spectra revealed various emission peaks, suggesting a quenching effect. A numerical simulation of a new solar cell based on FTO/ZnO/Sm–CuO–SnO2:F/X/Mo was carried out using Silvaco Atlas software, where X represented the absorber layer CIGS, CdTe, and CZTS. The results showed that the solar cell with CIGS as the absorber layer achieved the highest efficiency of 15.98. Additionally, the thin films demonstrated strong photocatalytic performance, with 6% Sm-doped CuO–SnO2:F showing 86% degradation of ampicillin after two hours. This comprehensive investigation provided valuable insights into the synthesis, properties, and potential applications of Sm-doped CuO–SnO2 thin films, particularly for solar energy and pharmaceutical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Water and Environmental Technologies of Global Relevance)
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