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Advanced Hydrogel for Water Treatment (2nd Edition)
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Advanced Hydrogel for Water Treatment (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Analysis and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 570

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Chun Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
Interests: advanced oxidation technology; industrial refractory organic wastewater treatment; sludge dewatering; flocculants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are grateful to all authors, reviewers, and readers for their responses to the first edition of our Special Issue on “Advanced Hydrogel for Water Treatment”. You can access these articles for free using the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/gels/special_issues/Gels_Water_treatment

In recent years, the shortage of freshwater resources as well as the contamination of aqueous environments are urgent problems worldwide. The development of effective technologies for freshwater harvesting and water decontamination have become an urgent research hotspot. Hydrogel, as a novel floatable, durable, anti-fouling, and suitable recycling material with a porous 3D network structure, is an effective adsorbent, able to enhance the photothermal solar efficiency conversion and removal of series of pollutants from water in desalination and decontaminants during water treatment, respectively. Hydrogel, which exhibits excellent pollutant adsorption capacity, water holding capacity, water adsorption capacity, and reversible swelling ability, has potential application value in water treatment at a large scale.

This Special Issue focuses on the preparation of physical and chemical hydrogel, as well as the application of hydrogel for desalination and decontaminant in water purification process, for example, seawater desalination, atmospheric condensation, various pollutants adsorption, and oil–water separation.

Prof. Dr. Chun Zhao
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. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2100 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

  • hydrogel
  • desalination
  • atmospheric condensation
  • heavy metal ions
  • organics removal
  • water treatment

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 8997 KiB  
Article
Cellulose Nanofiber Aerogel from Banana Peduncle Modified with Graphene Oxide as Bio-Adsorbent for Lead and Chromium Ions
by Anjar Priyatmojo, Riza Wirawan, Husaini Ardy, Dita Puspitasari, Putri P. P. Asri and Lia A. T. W. Asri
Gels 2025, 11(2), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11020095 - 28 Jan 2025
Viewed by 377
Abstract
Textile industry waste contains high concentrations of heavy metals such as Pb(II) and Cr(VI) that must be reduced before they are released to the environment. The adsorption method is one way to reduce the heavy metal content. In this work, we develop a [...] Read more.
Textile industry waste contains high concentrations of heavy metals such as Pb(II) and Cr(VI) that must be reduced before they are released to the environment. The adsorption method is one way to reduce the heavy metal content. In this work, we develop a porous cellulose nanofiber (CNF) aerogel modified with graphene oxide (GO) as an alternative aerogel adsorbent for Pb(II) and Cr(VI). Cellulose was extracted from banana peduncle, a biomass waste that remains largely underutilized. The addition of GO aims to increase the adsorption properties. The aerogel adsorbents were synthesized by varying the ultrasonication time to 45 min for CNF 45 and 60 min for CNF 60, and the amount of GO added to 1 mL and 2 mL. The aerogel adsorbents were successfully prepared using the freeze-drying method with CNF45, CNF60, CNF45/GO1, CNF45/GO2, CNF60/GO1, and CNF60/GO2 variations. CNF was successfully isolated from a banana peduncle with an average diameter of 44.16 nm for 45 min (CNF 45) and an average diameter of 14.6 nm for 60 min (CNF 60) of ultrasonication. Chemical treatment and ultrasonication reduced the crystallinity index value of cellulose by 73% and 61% for CNF 45 and CNF 60, respectively. CNF aerogel has a very low shrinkage rate (<7%), resulting in a larger surface area. CNF60/GO2 obtained the optimum adsorption ability for Pb(II) metal at a concentration of 100 ppm and 27.27 mg/g at 30 min. On the other hand, the adsorption ability of Cr(VI) metal was obtained by CNF60/GO2 at a concentration of 100 ppm and 13.48 mg/g at 30 min. SEM images show that all aerogel adsorbents are porous, with a porosity value range of 96–98%. In conclusion, CNF60/GO2 proved to be the most effective aerogel adsorbent, offering the potential for heavy metal removal from industrial wastewater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Hydrogel for Water Treatment (2nd Edition))
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