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Advanced Design and Synthesis of Novel Photocatalyst Materials for Wastewater Remediation

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 1603

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Farzaneh Mahmoudi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA
Interests: crystal engineering; MOFs; metal oxide nanoparticles; composite materials; polyoxometalate; MXene, photocatalyst, adsorbent; drinking water and wastewater treatment; water splitting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are widely used to degrade organic pollutants in wastewater. In this regard, photocatalysis is a green, low-cost, and efficient technology for wastewater remediation. Petrochemicals, organic dyes, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, and various industrial additives are common organic pollutants in wastewater. Some of the common materials, such as metal oxides, chalcogenides, polyoxometalates, carbon quantum dots, graphene oxide, carbon nitride, MXene, bismuth oxybromide, and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), have been studied for photocatalytic processes in wastewater remediation. Developing novel nanomaterials, especially heterojunctions with improved photocatalytic efficiency, has been considered an emerging and active research topic.

We invite original research, review articles, and case studies covering a broad range of topics related to the application of novel photocatalyst materials for wastewater remediation including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Design and synthesis of novel nanomaterials or composite materials;
  • Studies and investigations of the effective parameters in the photodegradation of organic pollutants in wastewater;
  • Experimental and theoretical studies regarding the photocatalytic mechanism;
  • Photocatalytic process optimization and reuse of the photocatalysts.

Dr. Farzaneh Mahmoudi
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. Water 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 2600 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

  • nanomaterials
  • composite material
  • photocatalyst
  • organic pollutants
  • wastewater treatment

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 3134 KB  
Article
Metformin Mineralization via an Fe-PILC-Catalyzed Photo-Fenton Reaction Driven by UV and Visible Light
by Deysi Amado-Piña, Rubi Romero, Armando Ramírez-Serrano, Sandra Luz Martínez-Vargas, Teresa Torres-Blancas and Reyna Natividad
Water 2025, 17(20), 3028; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17203028 - 21 Oct 2025
Viewed by 415
Abstract
The presence of various drugs in wastewater has generated growing concern about the contamination of water bodies. This requires urgent attention and the development of effective methods for their degradation in aquatic ecosystems. The present study evaluates the efficiency of metformin (MET) degradation [...] Read more.
The presence of various drugs in wastewater has generated growing concern about the contamination of water bodies. This requires urgent attention and the development of effective methods for their degradation in aquatic ecosystems. The present study evaluates the efficiency of metformin (MET) degradation via various photochemical processes—photolysis, H2O2 photodecomposition, photocatalysis, and photo-Fenton—using iron-pillared bentonite clays (Fe-PILC) as a catalyst. The influence of radiation wavelength (254 nm and visible light) was investigated, while MET degradation, H2O2 consumption, and total organic carbon (TOC) removal were monitored as key response variables. Structural characterization confirmed successful pillaring, increasing the surface area of bentonite from 35 to 246 m2/g, with iron content at 11 wt. % quantified by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Fe3O4 and FeO were identified using XPS, and a 2.08 eV band-gap energy was revealed via diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Experiments were conducted at environmentally relevant MET concentrations (13,000 ng L−1) in a 0.1 L batch photoreactor at 25 °C. The results demonstrate that (i) photo-Fenton was the most efficient process to remove and mineralize MET (100% degradation after 10 min and 83% mineralization after 90 min); (ii) Fe-PILC is effectively activated at λ < 700 nm, enabling 75% mineralization under visible light; (iii) hydroxyl radicals and valence band holes were the primary oxidative species driving MET oxidation; and (iv) cyanoguanidine and carboxylic acids were identified as main oxidation by-products via UHPLC. Pseudo-first-order kinetic constants were determined for all processes, offering insight into their relative efficiencies. Notably, the rate constant for photo-Fenton under visible light (0.406 min−1) was comparable to that under UV -light (0.545 min−1), highlighting the potential of visible light-driven treatments. Therefore, this study demonstrated the metformin degradation capability of iron-pillared clays under both visible and UV light. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Design and Synthesis of Novel Photocatalyst Materials for Wastewater Remediation)
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17 pages, 2398 KB  
Article
Mesoporous SBA-15-Supported Ceria–Cadmium Composites for Fast Degradation of Methylene Blue in Aqueous Systems
by Dănuţa Matei, Abubakar Usman Katsina, Diana-Luciana Cursaru and Sonia Mihai
Water 2025, 17(12), 1834; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17121834 - 19 Jun 2025
Viewed by 780
Abstract
A composite photocatalyst of ceria–cadmium supported on mesoporous SBA-15 silica was synthesized and employed for the aqueous methylene blue (MB) degradation. The composites were prepared using an incipient wetness impregnation technique and a conventional sol–gel approach with triblock copolymer P123 as a structure-directing [...] Read more.
A composite photocatalyst of ceria–cadmium supported on mesoporous SBA-15 silica was synthesized and employed for the aqueous methylene blue (MB) degradation. The composites were prepared using an incipient wetness impregnation technique and a conventional sol–gel approach with triblock copolymer P123 as a structure-directing agent for SBA-15 preparation, enabling the uniform dispersion of CeO2 and Cd species within the SBA-15 framework. The physicochemical properties of both CeO2/SBA-15 and Cd-CeO2/SBA-15 composites were analyzed using small-angle and wide-angle XRD, FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, EDX spectroscopy, N2 physisorption at 77 K, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The findings revealed that the SBA-15 support retained its well-ordered hexagonal mesostructure in both the ceria–SBA-15 and SBA-15-supported cadmium–ceria (Cd-CeO2) composites. The highest degradation efficiency of 96.40% was achieved under optimal conditions, and kinetic analysis using the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model indicated that the MB degradation process followed pseudo-first-order kinetics, with a strong correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.9925) and a rate constant (k) of 0.02532 min−1. Under irradiation, the Cd-CeO2/SBA-15 composites exhibited superior photocatalytic activity compared to the pristine components, owing to the synergistic interaction between ceria and cadmium, enhanced light absorption, and improved charge carrier separation. The recyclability test demonstrated that the degradation efficiency decreased slightly from 96.40% to 94.86% after three cycles, confirming the stability and reusability of Cd-CeO2/SBA-15 composites. The photocatalytic process demonstrated a favorable electrical energy per order (EE/O) value of 281.8 kWh m−3, indicating promising energy efficiency for practical wastewater treatment. These results highlight the excellent photocatalytic performance and durability of the synthesized Cd-CeO2/SBA-15 composites, making them promising candidates for facilitating the photocatalytic decomposition of MB and other dye molecules in water treatment applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Design and Synthesis of Novel Photocatalyst Materials for Wastewater Remediation)
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